NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Jury deliberations in the Tyco corruption trial erupted in acrimony Thursday, raising the possibility that the panel may fail to reach a verdict in the nearly six-month long trial.
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The jury calls the atmo-sphere in the jury room 'poisonous', judge orders them to return on Friday. CNNfn's Mary Snow reports.
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"The atmosphere in the jury room has turned poisonous. The jury contends that one member has stopped deliberating in good faith," the jurors said in a note to the judge late Thursday, adding, however, that they still believed they could reach a verdict.
A second note to the judge just 20 minutes later, apparently from the juror singled out in the first note, read, in part: "[T]hey refuse to recognize the right to at least one juror to have a good faith belief that the prosecution has not proved its case that the defendants are guilty.
"Perhaps this jury cannot continue," the later note continued. "What shall we do?"
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus then denied a defense motion for a mistrial and sent the jury home for the day.
"We believe that the right to a fair trial no longer exists, and we want a mistrial," Austin Campriello, a lawyer for ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski, told the judge.
After rejecting the motion, the judge told the jury to try to respect each other's opinions, adding he would give them additional instructions Friday.
"Try to relax as much as you can this evening," Obus told the panel of three women and nine men, according to Reuters.
The jury was in its sixth day of deliberations after a highly complex trial that has lasted nearly six months in a New York State court.
Kozlowski and ex-finance chief Mark Swartz are accused of looting Tyco of $600 million in one of the most closely watched of the current corporate fraud cases.
The two are accused of bilking the diversified manufacturer out of $170 million from unauthorized bonuses and personal loans, while another $430 was obtained through dishonest stock sales, according to the charges.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to the 32-count indictment on charges of securities fraud, conspiracy, grand larceny and falsifying business records.
Each man faces up to 30 years in a New York state prison if convicted of all charges.
Judge Obus dismissed the first count of the indictment, enterprise corruption, in early March -- one of the most serious charges -- that carries a sentence of up to 25 years.
The prosecution entered some 700 exhibits into evidence and called four dozen witnesses, including several former Tyco directors who denied approving millions of dollars worth of personal loans and bonuses for the former executives.
Prosecutors sought to highlight Kozlowski's lavish lifestyle and spending habits during the trial.
Video clips of a $2 million 40th birthday party that he threw for his second wife, Karen Mayo, in Sardinia, Italy, were shown to the jury. Kozlowski charged Tyco $1 million for the celebration.
Tyco also provided the SEC with a list of Kozlowski's allegedly unauthorized purchases, including the now famous $6,000 shower curtain, a $15,000 umbrella stand and a $445 pincushion.
Kozlowski didn't take the stand during the trial, and Swartz was the only defense witness.
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