A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the bribery case against DC Council member Trayon White Sr. (Ward 8-D). The declaration ends a closely watched public corruption trial without a verdict and leaves prosecutors to decide whether to try again to convict one of the District’s most polarizing elected officials.
The jury deliberated for several days after a week-long trial. By Friday, the jury reported to US District Judge Rudolph Contreras it could not reach a unanimous decision. The split among jurors was not immediately disclosed. Under federal rules, all 12 jurors have to agree to convict or acquit White.
White, a Democrat who represents Ward 8, was charged with accepting $35,000 in cash from Allieu Kamara, a DC government contractor who had done violence-interruption work for the city, in exchange for agreeing to pressure District officials to renew contracts connected to Kamara’s companies. Prosecutors alleged White had agreed to receive $156,000, or 3 percent of the contracts.
White pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence since his 2024 arrest. He did not testify during the trial. Lawyers for White painted Kamara as a criminal desperate to trade White for leniency, pointing to family connections between the two. WAMU’s Alex Koma found that Kamara was married to White’s half-sister between 2022 and 2024. Defense painted the entrapment as a family deception.
White’s attorneys did not dispute that he took the cash, but argued prosecutors had failed to prove the central question in the case: that White corruptly intended to use his office in exchange for the money.
That issue appeared to trouble jurors. During deliberations, they asked whether bribery had occurred if a defendant received money to perform an official act but had no intention of carrying out the agreement. Contreras told them no, the Post reported Friday.
The government’s case relied heavily on secretly recorded FBI videos of White meeting with Kamara, who had pleaded guilty to bribery and bank fraud conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with investigators. Prosecutors said the recordings showed White taking cash-filled envelopes while discussing contract renewals and city officials who could affect them.
White’s defense team cast Kamara as an unreliable informant and argued that the government’s own witnesses weakened the case. Deputy Mayor for Justice and Public Safety Lindsey Appiah, Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) Director Kwelli Sneed and former contracting specialist Anwar Walker testified that White did not pressure them to help Kamara, according to The Washington Informer.
Outside court Friday, after jurors first reported they were stuck, White thanked supporters and said he remained patient. “We’re still believing, and we’re still pressing,” White said, according to the Informer. “The amount of love and support I’ve received from this region has been second to none. I’m forever indebted, and I’m forever grateful.”
The mistrial does not clear White. The indictment is still pending. Prosecutors can try to retry the case before a new jury, seek a plea agreement or dismiss the charge. Given the seriousness of the allegation, the FBI recordings and the Justice Department’s investment in the case, a retrial is likely unless prosecutors conclude another trial would also inevitably result in a deadlocked jury.
A conviction would have had major political consequences. White was expelled from DC Council in 2025 after the bribery charge but won a special election and returned to office in August 2025. His term expires Jan. 2, 2029.
The mistrial also leaves the council in an uneasy position. White’s colleagues previously took the extraordinary step of expelling him before the criminal case was resolved. Ward 8 voters then returned him to the seat, setting up a conflict between council ethics concerns and voter choice that could reignite if prosecutors announce a second trial.
Reporting indicates little appetite for another expulsion. Councilmembers and ANC commissioners did not appear to have widely posted public statements in the immediate aftermath of the trial.
The central question that froze the case in its tracks was not whether White accepted money, but what jurors believed taking the money meant, legally. Prosecutors framed the cash as a bribe tied to White’s official power. The defense framed it as proof of poor judgment, perhaps, but not a federal crime.
A new jury may be asked to make the same decision, one more time.
