Mistrial declared in trial of nonprofit executives accused with Kenyatta Johnson

A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of two codefendants of city Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson who were facing separate charges of embezzling funds and bribing a school official in Wisconsin.

The decision, by U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh, came after one of the jurors who had been hearing the case against Rahim Islam and Shahied Dawan — former executives at Universal Companies, the affordable housing and charter school nonprofit founded by Philadelphia music legend Kenny Gamble — contracted COVID over the weekend.

» READ MORE: Kenyatta Johnson and his wife, Dawn Chavous, acquitted at federal bribery trial

Typically, that juror would have been excused, replaced by one of five alternates, and the trial would have continued.

But due to a high jury turnover rate throughout the month-long trial — including a juror booted from the panel during deliberations in an earlier phase of the case — there were no alternates left to make a replacement.

Prosecutors said they’d be willing to continue the trial with only an 11-member jury under a federal court rule that allows an incomplete panel to return a verdict if the judge deems there is good cause. Lawyers for Islam and Dawan disagreed.

“Absent their consent, the judge was obligated to declare a mistrial,” court staff said in a statement.

That decision is the second time McHugh has been forced to declare a mistrial in the case this year. The first time came in April after a jury deliberating bribery allegations involving Islam, Dawan, Johnson, and the council member’s wife, Dawn Chavous, deadlocked, resulting in a hung jury.

» READ MORE: Inside the Kenyatta Johnson jury room: Juror details deadlocked deliberations in bribery case

A second jury hearing that case acquitted all four last week.

But Dawan and Islam faced a second phase of the trial — before the same jury — on charges that they embezzled nearly $500,000 from Universal Companies through inflated salaries, bonuses, and unauthorized personal expense reimbursements. They have also been accused of bribing the former school board president of Milwaukee to secure his support for the expansion of Universal’s charter schools to that city.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately say Monday whether they intended to retry the executives on counts of racketeering conspiracy, wire, and honest services fraud — the most serious of which could send them to prison for up to 20 years.

Both men have denied wrongdoing. Their attorneys — Thomas O. Fitzpatrick, David Laigaie, and Joshua David Hill — did not return requests for comment Monday.