After the first full day of deliberations in the meme trial of Douglass Mackey, the jury sent a note saying that they had completed their deliberations and were unable to reach a unanimous decision as to his guilt.
“After the first full day of deliberations in the Douglass Mackey trial, the jury sent this note: ‘We have completed our deliberations and we have not reached a unanimous decision. Please advise.’ The judge sent them home for the night, told them to keep going in the morning,” the Daily News’ Brooklyn Court reporter John Annese reported.
“Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Ann Donnelly told the Mackey jurors, ‘This is actually not unusual. By our terms you’ve only been deliberating for a little while.’ She told them to take their time,” Annese continued.
Mackey, who was charged with election interference, has been on trial in the Eastern District of New York on federal charges. His alleged crime was making a meme in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election encouraging those who wished to vote for Hillary Clinton to do so via text.
The Department of Justice alleged that this constituted election interference, even though they were unable to provide evidence that anyone on Twitter was fooled by Mackey’s meme.
The defendant said that he wasn’t committing “election intereference” and was merely trying to make a viral meme. This he did. Hillary Clinton supporters posted similar memes suggesting that Trump supporters vote by text. These people were not arrested or charged by the DOJ.
Mackey, who went by Ricky Vaughn on Twitter, was arrested in January 2021 on the charge of “conspiring with others in advance of the 2016 US Presidential Election to use various social media platforms to disseminate misinformation designed to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote,” the DOJ said.
Early on in the trial, an expert witness for the defense withdrew from the trial after a reporter from the SPLC contacted him and asked, among other things, if his employer knew that he was testifying on Mackey’s behalf.
