Andersen Case Jury Hints at Conviction

Jurors struggling to reach a verdict in the Arthur Andersen criminal trial yesterday hinted that they were considering a conviction of the accounting firm.

The jury asked Judge Melinda Harmon if they all had to agree on who at the accounting firm acted as the "corrupt persuader" and caused others at the firm to destroy Enron-related documents.

The note was sent to the judge an hour into the eighth day of deliberations. Judge Harmon sent the jury back after they said they were unable to reach a verdict late on Wednesday night.

Yesterday's note read: "If each of us believes that one Andersen agent acted knowingly with corrupt intent, is it for all of us to believe it was the same agent? Can one believe it was agent A, another believe it was agent B, and another believe it was agent C? The government argued that four dif ferent people were guilty. The jury is asking if we all need to believe that the same person is guilty."

Andersen is on trial for obstruction of justice. Government prosecutors claim that the accounting firm destroyed "literally tons" of documents related to the audit of Enron to thwart a federal investigation into the energy firm. If found guilty Andersen faces a $500,000 (£340,000) fine and will lose its licence to audit public companies in the US.

The jury subsequently made a number of other requests. They asked for a rereading of parts of the testimony of David Duncan, the fired partner who ran the Enron account from the firm's Houston offices as well as some of the testimony of Amy Ripepi, who ran the Andersen in-house standards group. They also wanted a training tape outlining the firm's document retention policy replayed.

Lawyers from both sides were locked in meetings with Judge Harmon at midday in Houston to press their arguments for how she should instruct the jury. Prosecutors will argue that the jury may disagree about which Andersen worker was at fault.

The deadlock in the jury on Wednesday raised fears that a mis-trial could be declared, delivering a damaging blow to the government's assault on white-collar crime.