Trayon White asks a federal judge to throw out his bribery case, calling a retrial double jeopardy

Why this matters to D.C. residents

Trayon White has represented Ward 8 since 2017. He was expelled from the D.C. Council, won his seat back at the ballot box, sat through a federal bribery trial, and watched a jury walk out without a verdict. Now his lawyers want a judge to make sure that jury is the last one that ever hears this case. What happens next in U.S. District Court will determine whether one of the city's most contentious elected officials keeps his seat through January 2029, or whether he faces a second criminal trial with his council membership on the line again.

The motion, filed this week

D.C. Councilmember Trayon White has asked a judge to dismiss his federal bribery case after a mistrial was declared. White's defense filed a motion seeking acquittal or dismissal of the charges on double jeopardy grounds, a legal term meaning a person cannot be tried twice on the same charges after a verdict is reached.

The motion argues an acquittal is required because prosecutors did not provide sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction. The filing leans on the jury breakdown itself as proof. The motion states that nine of the jurors voted to acquit while three jurors found there was sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction.

The language in the filing is pointed. "This Court can prevent a travesty of justice occurring to the four-time elected representative of the District of Columbia's great Ward 8, at the hands of a federal prosecutor's office that clumsily targeted him just as he stood for re-election," the motion reads.

The motion lands before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, who presided over the trial. He has not yet ruled.

What the mistrial looked like

A judge declared a mistrial in Trayon White's federal bribery trial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on Sept. 28, 2026. Jurors reached their decision on a fourth day of deliberations.

White was charged with one count of federal bribery, and arrested in 2024 after allegations that he accepted more than $150,000 in cash to pressure District employees to extend government contracts for violence intervention services. He pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution's case rested heavily on secret recordings. Businessman turned FBI informant Allieu Kamara secretly recorded White on several occasions, and the videos, which were played in court, showed White accepting envelopes of cash from Kamara. Authorities said they secretly recorded conversations between White and Kamara, who provided White $35,000 in cash across four occasions. Prosecutors alleged White had agreed to receive $156,000, or 3 percent of the contracts.

White's attorneys have denied that he entered into a bribery agreement and argue there was no quid pro quo. White did not take the stand in his own defense during the trial.

Outside the courthouse after the mistrial, White was direct. "This has been one of the hardest two years of my life, fighting the system," he said. "But through it all, I'm grateful. I'm humble, and I feel like I'm redeemed again."

Pirro says they are coming back

The U.S. Attorney's office did not soften its position after the hung jury. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro vowed to retry White's case and secure a guilty verdict in an emailed statement.

"We have video showing piles of cash being given to a D.C. council member as part of a $156,000 bribe," Pirro said. "Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict."

Pirro said she plans to retry the case but did not give a timeline for when that could happen. The double jeopardy motion now gives Judge Contreras a threshold question to answer before a second trial date can even be scheduled: does White's constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same offense kick in after a mistrial caused by a deadlocked jury? Legal precedent generally says no, because a mistrial is not an acquittal. But White's lawyers are betting the 9-to-3 breakdown, combined with what they call a failure of evidence, changes that calculation.

A singular political story

White's path to this courtroom filing is unlike anything else in recent D.C. political history. White, who took office as council member in 2017, was expelled from office in February 2025 following his bribery indictment. But in a July 2025 special election, voters in Ward 8 narrowly restored him to office by 252 votes, beating fellow Democrats Sheila Bunn, Mike Austin, and Salim Adofo.

The mistrial leaves the council in an uneasy position. White's colleagues previously took the extraordinary step of expelling him before the criminal case was resolved. His term expires Jan. 2, 2029. If he is found guilty, White will be removed from office.

The mistrial does not clear White. The indictment is still pending. Prosecutors can try to retry the case before a new jury, seek a plea agreement, or dismiss the charge. Given the seriousness of the allegation, the FBI recordings, and the Justice Department's investment in the case, a retrial is likely unless prosecutors conclude another trial would also inevitably result in a deadlocked jury. That assessment was written before White's team filed the double jeopardy motion, which now puts the retrial question squarely in front of the judge rather than solely in the hands of prosecutors.

The motion also revives a broader argument White's lawyers have pressed throughout this case. The defense filed a motion earlier in the proceedings arguing the FBI's "hastily contrived sting operation" with an informant over a seven-week period in the summer of 2024 failed to "sufficiently meet the elements of bribery." They also argued that the Department of Justice rushed to arrest and charge the lawmaker to satisfy an internal deadline to avoid the criminal case affecting the fall 2024 council elections.

That argument did not succeed in stopping the trial then. Whether a new version of it, dressed in double jeopardy language and bolstered by the lopsided jury split, moves Judge Contreras is a different question entirely.

What D.C. Residents Should Watch

• Judge Contreras's ruling on the dismissal motion. No timeline has been set. If he denies it, prosecutors can schedule a second trial. If he grants it, the bribery case ends entirely, and White's seat is secure for the remainder of his term.
• Whether Pirro sets a retrial date. The U.S. Attorney said she plans to retry the case but did not give a timeline for when that could happen. A prolonged gap would leave White operating as a full council member with the indictment still technically active.
• The council's response. Before the trial, White was stripped of some council responsibilities. After the mistrial was declared, White said he planned to return to work on the council. Whether his colleagues reinstate his committee assignments, or keep him sidelined, is a live question for Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
• Ward 8 in the November 3 general election. White is not on the November ballot himself, but the unresolved corruption case will hang over the ward's political environment as voters in Southeast D.C. weigh which candidates for citywide office they trust.

Sources: FOX 5 DC; NBC4 Washington; WJLA 7News; Courthouse News Service; The Hill Rag; Washington Informer; Washington Times