Andersen Deliberations Continue

The jury in the Arthur Andersen criminal trial ended its fifth day of deliberations Monday without reaching a verdict.

The panel of nine men and three women met for about eight hours and did not ask the judge any questions or make any requests for additional information.

Jurors on Sunday had asked for a dictionary, but U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon turned down the request, saying the panel could ask for definitions of specific words. The jury sent no additional notes.

Jurors entered the jury box Monday afternoon with poker faces, and the panel’s foreman said they intended to resume their discussion Tuesday.

The length of the deliberations is fueling speculation that the panel is sharply divided, but experts say reading juries is notoriously tricky.

Andersen lead attorney Rusty Hardin, a prosecutor for 15 years before entering private practice, said he believes that generally, the longer the deliberations in a criminal trial, the more likely the result will be an acquittal. But he said Monday that he is “not absolutely convinced they’re not just going over the evidence.”

Prosecutors declined to speculate on the jury deliberations.

Andersen faces a felony charge of obstruction of justice for shredding Enron Corp.-related audit papers last fall after it had learned of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry of the energy trader. Prosecutors say the firm suddenly began directing employees to comply with Andersen’s document retention policy, which called for the discarding of certain files, as a means of shielding Andersen from the SEC.

Andersen said executives disposed of files in keeping with routine business practices and lacked criminal intent.