FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of a former Hallandale Beach mayor accused of misconduct and campaign finance crimes.
Jurors began deliberating the fate of Joy Cooper at around 3:15 p.m. at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Tuesday. However, the verdict has not been announced as of 5:30 p.m.
Both defense attorneys and prosecutors have since concluded their closing arguments.
“So, she knew the $5,000 was funneled through the Russians into her campaign,” prosecutor Catherine Maus said. “The same $5,000 that she requested in that very first meeting.”
“We ask of you what’s fair, what’s right and just and find Joy Cooper not guilty,” defense attorney Larry Davis said.
Cooper was captured on camera meeting with undercover FBI agents posing as land developers in 2012. Agents said Cooper agreed to take cash in exchange for favorable votes.
Prosecutors said a former lobbyist named Alan Koslow arranged the meetings and negotiated the contribution amount.
A prosecutor asked on Nov. 20, “Did you show it to the defendant?”
“Yes,” Koslow said.
The prosecutor then asked, “What was her response?”
“Add a zero,” Koslow replied.
Koslow said he gave the money to Julia Yaremchuck, who ran a charter school, and she told jurors she gave the money to teachers who wrote checks to Joy Cooper.
A prosecutor asked, “Did you give that cash to some of your teachers?”
“Yes,” Yaremchuck replied.
When prosecutors asked if Yaremchuck asked for and received checks, she replied, “Yes.”
Defense attorneys said Koslow was a man with a cocaine problem who needed money to feed his habit.
Koslow testified that he used cocaine more throughout the investigation.
“It was heavier for good reason,” Koslow said on Nov. 21. “I was under tremendous stress.”
Cooper faces several charges, and two of the charges are felonies, which each carry maximum sentences of five years in prison.
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