Jury picked in Kenyatta Johnson trial, and opening statements set for Thursday

The jury of nine men and three women who will ultimately decide the fate of Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson and his wife, Dawn Chavous, was selected Wednesday, setting the stage for opening arguments to begin in their federal bribery trial Thursday morning.

As U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh seated the panel after a three-day selection process, a group of roughly 30 Johnson supporters crowded just outside the courtroom doors singing hymns. Their song — “I Don’t Mind Waiting” — could be heard faintly inside as the freshly picked jurors filed out to prepare for the trial ahead.

“We so much appreciate your attendance, your participation, and, indeed, your citizenship,” McHugh said to the panel members before sending them home with instructions not to read news accounts or discuss the case with others.

» READ MORE: Kenyatta Johnson and Dawn Chavous bribery trial: What you need to know

The group and four alternates also selected Wednesday were whittled down from roughly 120 prospective jurors from a nine-county region including Philadelphia, its suburbs, and outlying counties. The majority of them are white. And they range from their 20s to retirement age.

Few other details about the jurors’ backgrounds, professions, and where they live have emerged because most of the jury selection process took place behind closed doors.

But the verdict they are expected to deliver after the roughly three-week trial has the potential to upend Philadelphia’s City Council for the second time in less than a year. Should he be convicted, Johnson would be forced to resign his seat and would face a significant prison term, months after his former colleague Bobby Henon stepped down after a corruption conviction of his own.

Prosecutors have accused Johnson of accepting more than $66,000 in bribes from a struggling nonprofit that was desperate to maintain its real estate holdings in his South Philadelphia Council district. They say the money was funneled to him through a consulting contract for his wife for which she did little work.

» READ MORE: From a family tragedy to City Hall, how Kenyatta Johnson rose to power before his corruption trial

The councilmember twice came to the aid of the charity — Universal Companies, founded by the legendary music producer Kenny Gamble — protecting properties it owned from seizure and passing zoning legislation that substantially increased the resale value of another.

But Johnson, Chavous, and the two other codefendants in the case — former Universal executives Rahim Islam and Shahied Dawan — maintain that the government has twisted the facts of their working relationship to make a bribery case where none existed. The councilmember has confidently predicted he’ll be vindicated.

He and Chavous declined to comment on the trial ahead as they left the courthouse Wednesday in the company of their attorneys. Johnson’s lawyer, Patrick Egan, said he’d instructed them both not to say anything publicly about the case for the duration of the trial.

“Everybody just wants to have a fair trial and see justice done,” he said. “My client is very anxious to get this going because he knows once all the facts come out he’ll be found not guilty and we just want our day in court.”