Jury back deliberating Rep. Fattah's racketeering case

The jury in the case of Pennsylvania Congressman Chaka Fattah is back deliberating for a second week.

Friday, a juror in the month-long racketeering case was dismissed. No explanation was given, but an alternate replaced that person, and U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III ordered jurors to begin deliberations again.

The jury got the case Wednesday.

Fattah is a Philadelphia Democrat charged with racketeering, bribery, money laundering and honest services fraud.

Prosecutors say Fattah routed federal grant money and nonprofit funds through two political consultants to pay back an illegal loan.

Fattah's lawyers have argued the schemes were engineered without Fattah's knowledge by the consultants who pleaded guilty in the case.

His lawyers told jurors campaign consultants Greg Naylor and Thomas Lindenfeld acted alone.

"The government's case rests on the word of those two convicted felons," defense lawyer Mark Lee said.

Chaka Fattah blames his family's travails on a lengthy FBI investigation that he considers a witch hunt.

This year, his namesake son got sent to prison for five years in a related fraud case, and his wife lost her TV anchor job after being linked to a bribery count in the indictment. Renee Chenault-Fattah has not been charged.

The 59-year-old Fattah has been in Congress since 1995. He lost his congressional seat in the April primary.