Published: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 5:13 PM    

Updated: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 6:29 PM

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/jury_fails_to_reach_verdict_in.html

JERSEY CITY — Jurors in the corruption trial of former state Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith completed deliberations this afternoon without reaching a verdict.

The jury of six men and six women deliberated for 7½ hours without a formal break before U.S. District Judge Jose Linares sent them home for the evening. Deliberations resume Thursday morning.

Smith, a Democrat from Hudson County, is accused of accepting two cash payments totaling $15,000 from disgraced developer Solomon Dwek in April and July 2009. Dwek, who was secretly working for federal investigators and posed as a real estate developer named David Esenbach, secretly recorded his meetings and conversations with Smith.

In return for the cash, Dwek wanted Smith to expedite approvals for environmental, transportation and zoning permits for fictitious projects in Bayonne and Jersey City.

Smith, 61, is charged with conspiracy to commit extortion, money laundering, two counts of attempted extortion and two counts of bribery.

Testifying during the three-week trial in Newark, Smith told jurors he believed the money was a campaign contribution for what turned out to be an unsuccessful Jersey City mayoral bid. In his first assembly term at the time, Smith had announced before his arrest in July 2009 that he did not plan to seek reelection.

His attorney, Peter Willis, contends Smith was set up and that investigators pursued him even after he told Dwek he does not accept cash donations in return for favors.