Charles Keating Case Goes to Jury

Jurors began deliberating Monday the fate of Charles H. Keating Jr., who is charged with securities fraud stemming from the sale of junk bonds at branches of now-defunct Lincoln Savings & Loan.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito took about an hour to instruct the jurors before turning the case over to them. He said jurors might have to spend several days just reviewing nearly 300 exhibits presented during 35 days of testimony since late August.

The fraud case, brought in a state court, is the first criminal prosecution stemming from the April, 1989, collapse of the Irvine thrift and its Phoenix parent company, American Continental Corp.

Keating, the former chairman of American Continental, is accused of misleading small investors by failing to inform them adequately about the deteriorating condition of his financial empire.