Reasonable doubt?

Harris County (Texas) Commissioner Jerry Eversole (we might need to start calling him Teflon) walked out of the federal courthouse in Houston, Texas on Wednesday after a judge declared a hung jury.

Mr. Eversole was charged with accepting a bribe, conspiracy and filing false tax returns.

The feds alleged that Mr. Eversole had accepted bribes from real estate developer and personal friend Michael Surface. Mr. Eversole argued that any gifts that exchanged hands had nothing to do with county business and were private transactions between he and Mr. Surface.

After four days of deliberations, the jurors (once again) informed US District Court Judge David Hittner that they were deadlocked and that there were no expectations that they could come to a unanimous verdict. After receiving the note, Judge Hittner informed the jurors that if they could not reach a unanimous verdict another jury would have to be picked and all of the evidence would have to be presented again.

In other words, he asked the jurors to do their civil duty and save the feds some money.

His exhortation was to no avail as the jurors came back after some more deliberations without a unanimous verdict on any of the counts.

As to be expected, US Attorney John Pearson announced that los federales were prepared to tee it up again in their quest to convict Mr. Eversole.

In recent weeks both Scott Greenfield and Gideon have written about what beyond a reasonable doubt actually means. The jurors in Mr. Eversole's case heard the evidence. They went back in their little room, sat around a conference table and argued for some 18 hours about whether los federales had proven each and every element of their case beyond all reasonable doubt.

They were even castigated by a judge (and, in essence, were told they were wasting taxpayers' money if they couldn't come to a unanimous verdict) and went back and argued some more. Still they couldn't reach a unanimous decision on any of the four charges.

What is clearer evidence of reasonable doubt (other than a unanimous not guilty verdict)? Why should los federales get another bite at the apple when they couldn't prove up their case the first time? Why should Mr. Eversole be forced to cough up even more money to defend himself against charges the prosecutors couldn't prove beyond all reasonable doubt?