Corrine Brown Trial: Brown breaks down, sobs on the stand

RELATED: Brown gets emotional on stand during direct questioning 

12:15 p.m. update: The defense has rested. The court has broken for lunch.

Closing arguments Monday 9am. Jury sent home for the day.

Brown said payments from Von Alexander were loan repayments, but she didn't track how much Von borrowed.

Brown said she took most of the responsibility for the “shambles” of her office, she basically said she didn’t know a lot of things.

Brown challenged the prosecution on questions she considered repetitive: “We just want to bore them [the jury] to death with the same thing over and over again.”

10 a.m. update: An emotional Corrine Brown sobbed in court Friday and pounded a table during court during cross-examination.

Brown was hammered about inflated claims of charitable giving on her tax returns.

Corrine Brown: "Sir, let's be truthful with this. I did not double check my taxes. It was a mistake."

Prosecution: "Who made the mistake?"
Brown: "Several people worked on my taxes … I was careless. I didn't do what I should've done. I was too busy running around working with my constituents."

Brown denied she wrote the signature of her name on documents related to her tax preparation, but admitted she did not read all the documents released in discovery.

“My statement here today is that I don’t know who wrote this check," Brown testified. "“I am saying this is not my signature and I did not write it. “Why would several individuals get together and decide to pay money that was not yours to pay for your tax return?”

Tax preparer Dawn Wright wrote note on tax documents that Brown told her on the phone that she donated $12,500 to One Door for Education, a Brown-backed charity.

Brown testified she did not recall that conversation.

Brown says she does not read her mail all the time, so she wasn’t sure if she’d seen bank statements mailed to her that Duva referenced. On one bank statement, $10,000 was deposited into her account that month on top of her salary and pension.

Brown repeated that she didn't know about the actions of chief of staff Ronnie Simmons, who testified against his former boss this week.

“Not one time did I think Ronnie was stealing any money. Not one," Brown testified Friday. "Do you think I would jeopardize my constituents?”

During her testimony, Brown's voice broke and she sobbed.

“I need a moment. I need to go outside," Brown said.

Brown continued sobbing as the jury left the room.

9 a.m. update: Corrine Brown takes the stand again this morning to continue cross-examination.

Prosecution has the option of calling a rebuttal witness/witnesses after Brown, but her attorney has indicated so far that he does not plan to do that.

The judge is expected to dismiss the jury until Monday.

After the jury leaves, there will be a charge conference where the attorneys and judge will work out the details of the jury instruction and verdict form.

Closing arguments will be Monday -- and then the trial is officially on verdict watch.

Cox Media Group