Jury deadlocked in trial of National Black Justice Coalition

CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks faces conspiracy, fraud charges

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

A trial that began on April 17 in a federal court in Tallahassee, Fla., for Sharon Lettman-Hicks, the CEO and board chair of the D.C.-based LGBTQ group National Black Justice Coalition, ended in a mistrial on Thursday after a jury became deadlocked and could not render a verdict on 19 specific charges.

But the jury handed down a verdict of not guilty on one of the 19 charges against former Tallahassee mayor and unsuccessful Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum who was on trial together with Lettman-Hicks. The jury acquitted Gillum on a single charge of providing false statements to the FBI.

Federal prosecutors announced they plan to bring Lettman-Hicks and Gillum up for another trial on multiple charges where the jury was unable to render a verdict.

The trial began about 10 months after a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Florida on June 7, 2022, handed down an indictment charging both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks, who served as a campaign adviser to Gillum, with conspiracy and multiple counts of fraud.

The indictment alleged that Lettman-Hicks and Gil- lum engaged in an illegal political corruption scheme that began in 2015. It says Lettman-Hicks allegedly helped Gillum improperly funnel money solicited from FBI agents posing as real estate developers with a promise of providing something “very significant in return” for Gillum’s support for the developers in his role at the time as mayor of Tallahassee.

The indictment made it clear that Gillum and Lettman-Hicks became ensnared in an FBI sting operation that prosecutors said was part of an investigation into what they claimed was ongoing corruption in local government. Prosecutors alleged that much of the money Gillum received from the FBI sting operation went for his personal use through a company Lettman-Hicks operated called P&P Communications.

The indictment charged both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks with 19 counts of wire fraud and one count of attempt and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Lettman-Hicks has called the charges against her “baseless” and politically motivated. At the time she was indicted, Lettman-Hicks was running as a Democratic candidate for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives. She withdrew her candidacy, saying, “I must now focus on fighting for my continued freedom.”

A news report this week by the television station WTXL in Tallahassee quoted Lettman-Hicks saying the final week of the trial and much of the trial focused on Count 1, the false statement charge, for which the jury found Gillum not guilty.

“As far as I’m concerned, they realized two through 19 were bogus,” the TV station quoted her as saying. “Hopefully we can get our lives back, when the government decides to stop wasting its money, our money, our tax dollars…on a false positive,” she was quoted as saying.

The National Black Justice Coalition describes itself on its website as a “civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGA) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS.”

At the time the indictments were handed down the NBJC website listed Lettman-Hicks as the organization’s CEO and board chair. It listed and continues at this time to identify David Johns as the organization’s executive director, who runs the organization’s day-to-day operations out of its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

A spokesperson for the NBJC couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether Lettman-Hicks is still serving as the NBJC’s CEO and board chair.