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RICHMOND — The guilty verdicts for Bob and Maureen McDonnell came faster and more decisively than usual in public corruption cases, where juries routinely deadlock on least some counts — perhaps a sign that the law and the voters are taking a different approach toward business-as-usual in Virginia politics.

Twelve Virginians processed five weeks of testimony and hundreds of pages of evidence in less than two and a half days before finding Bob McDonnell guilty of 11 counts of public corruption and Maureen McDonnell guilty of nine violations of federal law.

The jurors rejected the McDonnells’ argument that accepting gifts and helping promote the businesses of gift-givers is the way things are done in Virginia — even when gifts and loans from one business executive hit $177,000 and counting.

“I think what happened is they walked in there, and did a straw poll and saw they felt strongly this was corrupt and then they worked for two and a half days to fit the puzzle pieces together,” said Richard Kelsey, assistant dean at the George Mason University School of Law.

What the jurors found about the federal law on public corruption should send a strong message to other politicians, too, experts said.

“It says you shouldn’t count on Virginia law because gifts and favors given can appear to violate federal law. It’s a message for every state and local official in Virginia,” said Bob Holsworth, a retired Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor who now works as a consultant.

He said he was stunned by the speed of the jury decision.

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The jurors reached their decision far more quickly than is typical in corruption trials in other states. In Illinois, where juries are more familiar with political corruption, it took one jury 14 days in 2010 to convict former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of one count of lying to a federal agent and decide they were unable to agree on 23 other charges. The next year, at his retrial, a second jury took 10 days to convict him on 17 counts.

But the verdict in a case critical to the McDonnells’ prosecution — the 2009 conviction of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. — came in just five days.

Judge James Spencer’s instructions to the McDonnell jury relied on several key definitions from the Jefferson case, which confirmed a new standard for what corruption entails, Kelsey said.

“They said you don’t have to show a formal agreement, an ‘I’ll give you this and you’ll do that,’ ” Kelsey said. “After all, the bad guys know about a wink and a nod.”

The standards set in the Jefferson case — and their reflection in the instructions Spencer gave about bribery and intent and official acts — probably helped the jury reach a decision as quickly as it did, legal experts said.

Many legal experts had been expecting lengthy deliberations because there were so many charges, and each included several elements.

For the six separate charges that the McDonnells used the governor’s office to get things they weren’t entitled to, the jurors had to find that they actually received gifts, loans or other valuable things, that they knew they were getting the items because the giver wanted Gov. McDonnell to do something, and that the McDonnells affected or tried to affect the sale of items in more than one state.

For the three charges that the McDonnells defrauded Virginians, the jurors had to find that the McDonnells planned to act corruptly, did so knowingly and misrepresented the truth. The conspiracy, false statements and obstruction charges each also had several elements to determine.

“It seems to me that a jury which is entitled to use its common sense probably relied on its common sense to conclude the governor got money in exchange for favors … that the size of the largesse is sufficient to show a quid pro quo,” said Juliet Sorenson, a professor at Northwestern University’s law school.

The McDonnells’ striking, soap-opera like defense — that their failing marriage meant they couldn’t have communicated enough to conspire — wasn’t enough to overcome the evidence on the timing of gifts and loans given and efforts former Gov. McDonnell made to help Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. promote a diet supplement.

“Obviously, the jury didn’t buy that, and obviously they didn’t buy the idea that he was just a friend and that’s why he gave the gifts,” said Kelsey.

“You can’t ignore the flashiness of some of these gifts … the greed and avarice,” he added. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the jury felt that it was beyond the pale.”

Ress can be reached by phone at 757-247-4535.