MINNEAPOLIS — After weeks of testimony, jurors returned a split verdict in the Feeding Our Future fraud trial Friday afternoon. Five defendants were found guilty, and two found innocent.
"We're pleased with the verdict, we're proud of the trial," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said. "There are more trials to come in the Feeding Our Future cases and investigations."
While seven of the defendants cases are now over, there are more to come. Some, like Rachel Moran, are now looking to what comes next.
"The jury had a lot of decisions about each individual person," Moran, an associate law professor at the University of St. Thomas, said.
Moran points to the split verdict as a good sign, and one that she says points to the jury doing their jobs correctly.
"It suggests that the the jury is carefully considering each individual person's liability and their own actions," Moran said.
She also points to the fact that two defendants were found innocent – Said Farah and Abdiwalah Aftin.
"When you have a mass prosecution like this, sometimes people do just get swept in," Moran said.
That's something defense attorney Steve Schleicher believes, saying Said Farah was likely brought into this because his brother, Abdiaziz Farah, was the primary defendant.
He too points to a more careful approach going forward.
"I think what we can expect is that they're going to focus on, you know specific evidence as to specific defendants," Schleicher said. "Give the jury something, you know, very solid to hang on to."
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