Avenatti found guilty of attempted extortion 0:41
(CNN) --
Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing from Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors alleged that Avenatti, who helped negotiate the $800,000 advance for Daniels' October 2018 "Full Disclosure" book, defrauded his former client by ordering his literary agent to send two of the advance fees for a total of nearly $300,000 to an account controlled by him, rather than directly to Daniels, without his knowledge.
The verdict came after an eventful day, in which the jury asked the judge for help, stating that one of the 12 was "acting on a feeling" and not considering the evidence.
"We have a juror who refuses to look at the evidence and is acting on a feeling. We need help moving forward. He doesn't think he needs to prove his side using evidence and refuses to show us how he came to his conclusion," the note read, according to Judge Jesse Furman.
"Please help us move forward, it's not based on any evidence, just emotions and you don't understand this jury work," the note added, with the word "please" underlined.
advertising
Avenatti requested a mistrial, arguing that the jury is clearly deadlocked and that any further instruction or action would be coercive.
Furman considered the motion, but denied it, saying, "I don't think we've gotten there yet."
Avenatti objected to some terms of the instruction, telling the judge that it could "appear to persuade a prospective juror to acquit him."
The judge noted Avenatti's assumption that the jury was leaning to convict him and said they had no way of knowing the jury split.
The jury has been deliberating since Wednesday.
Furman also denied prosecutors' request to ask the juror foreman to identify the abstaining juror so the court can consider remedies, including removing that juror for refusing to deliberate.
Just before noon, the judge led the jury into the courtroom to instruct the jurors on their duties to deliberate based on the evidence and push them forward.
The instruction in part reminded jurors not to "be carried away by sympathy or emotion" when considering the evidence to reach a verdict.
The jury of seven women and five men had no visible reactions to the judge's instructions.
CNN interview with Daniels
After the jury left, the judge discussed his earlier decision to deny Avenatti's motion to mistrial based on Daniels' Friday interview on CNN's "New Day," calling it "beyond frivolous." .
Avenatti called the interview "scandalous."
In the interview, Daniels said she was "shocked" that the jury was still out and speculated that there might be some bias against her because of her work in the adult film industry and her belief in paranormal activity.
"Who cares what I believe, who cares what my spirituality is, where I work, what I've done," Daniels told CNN's Brianna Keilar.
"Theft is theft, counterfeiting is counterfeiting, it really shouldn't matter, it seemed pretty straightforward," he said.
If Avenatti is found not guilty, he said, that "sets a precedent that is absolutely terrifying for anyone in the adult film business and anyone who works in the paranormal field or even the paranormal as a hobby."
"It's basically a free license to commit crimes against us and get away with it, and that's really scary," he said.
The judge said he saw the interview, but there was no indication that the jurors saw it.
He advised both sides to monitor comments to the media.