Could a single Trump sympathizer trigger a mistrial? It’s not unheard of.

A politically fraught criminal case, a defendant with MAGA supporters, a New York City jury — and a single holdout juror who forced a mistrial.

It happened two years ago in the case of Timothy Shea, a businessman charged with fraud alongside Steve Bannon. Donald Trump may hope it happens again.

Jury selection is now complete in Trump’s hush money trial: Twelve jurors and six alternates have been seated, and opening statements are set to begin Monday. And though a jury of a dozen New Yorkers may seem like a slam dunk for prosecutors — especially considering that some of those jurors acknowledged negative views about the former president — it would only take one to make the case go Trump’s way.

The 12-person panel would need to be unanimous for a conviction or an acquittal. But if there’s a hopeless deadlock, the judge would declare a mistrial — and for Trump, that might be nearly as good as an acquittal.

In the event of a mistrial, prosecutors could in theory start fresh and force Trump to stand trial again, with a new jury. But it would be a PR disaster for the prosecution and further delay the case. Trump, meanwhile, would hope to win election in November — and if he did, the case would likely freeze.

The lone-holdout scenario occurred in June 2022 at the first trial of Shea, a Colorado businessman charged with financial crimes for his role in a fraudulent fundraising scheme that was advertised as an effort to privately bankroll a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief strategist, also was charged for his alleged role in the same “We Build the Wall” fraud.

During the deliberations in Shea’s case in U.S. district court in Manhattan, the holdout juror spoke about a “government witch hunt” and accused the other members of the jury of being “liberals,” the New York Times reported at the time.

“Tim Shea is a good man. He doesn’t beat his wife,” the man reportedly said during deliberations. “You just can’t vote to lynch someone.”

The juror also accused the government of bringing the case in a blue state like New York to secure a conviction. Judge Analisa Torres eventually declared a mistrial because of the jury’s deadlock.

The mistrial only provided a brief reprieve for Shea, though. He was later convicted for his role in the scheme and sentenced to more than five years in prison in July 2023. Two of his co-defendants in the case were also sentenced to prison for the fraud.

Hours before Trump left the White House in 2021, he pardoned Bannon for his alleged crimes related to the fundraising scheme, and the former White House adviser never faced a federal jury.

But Trump’s pardon, which applies only to federal crimes, did not completely clear Bannon. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — the same prosecutor who is now leading the criminal case against Trump — charged Bannon in 2022 for the alleged scheme in what prosecutors described as a “a state-level reboot of a federal case.”

Bannon has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.