After four -day consultations, jurors in the Roman storm trial in court said they remained deadlocked on some charges, motivating the use of an Allen charge to encourage further discussion.
An Allen charge, sometimes called a “dynamite charge,” is a special instruction provided by a judge to a deadlocked jury, encouraging them to re -evaluate their positions and attempt to reach a united judgment.
According to In court reports on Wednesday by the Inner City Press, Storm’s lawyer Brian Klein opposed the charge, focusing that the jury made it clear that a uncomfortable judgment was unlikely and instead encouraged the court to consider receiving a slight judgment.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla cooperated with prosecutors, preferring to push ongoing consultations instead of accepting a slight verdict, with US assistant lawyer Thane Arad, “We crossed that bridge when we got there.”
This step maintains a living trial and delay of a potential mistake, but also features a deep division of the jury on the major aspects of the government case.
Related: SEC Peirce defends transaction privacy as Tornado Cash Verdict Looms
Tornado Cash Trial Verdict may set a precedent for Crypto Developer liability
Storm, Ethereum-based Mixer Co-Founder Tornado Cash, has been accused of conspiring the launder more than $ 1 billion in prohibited funds, including money tied to hackers from the North Korean lazarus group. Prosecutors argue that he actively promoted the tool to criminals and ignored warnings about its misuse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wye8xsMau8C
Defense Claims Storm writes the open-source code and has no control over how it is used, which raises greater questions about responsibility for software developers in decentralized systems.
The case has significant implications for crypto developers and the boundaries of liability for the writing of decentralized software. If convicted of all counts and given maximum penalties, the storm could face up to 45 years in prison.
Legal Panel: Crypto wants to overthrow banks, now it becomes them in the stablecoin fight
