Tyco Jurors Report Reaching Verdicts on Some Charges

Jurors in the trial of two former top executives of Tyco International Ltd. indicated Thursday that they had reached verdicts on an unspecified number of charges in a 31-count indictment but were seeking direction from the court on how to proceed on the unresolved charges.

The jurors, who deliberated for a fifth day, are trying to decide whether L. Dennis Kozlowski, 58, Tyco’s former chief executive, and Mark H. Swartz, 44, the conglomerate’s former finance chief, enriched themselves by nearly $600 million by taking unauthorized pay and bonuses, abusing loan programs and selling their company stock at inflated prices after lying about Tyco’s finances.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus dismissed the jurors around 4 p.m. after they sent a note asking, “Can we deliver a verdict if we are unanimous on some counts and not on others?”

The judge said he would answer their question when they return to court today. He met with attorneys from both sides to consider the jurors’ question.

The four-month trial is the second for Kozlowski and Swartz. The judge declared a mistrial after the first trial in April 2004 because a juror, identified by a newspaper as a holdout for acquittal, received a menacing telephone call and letter.

Kozlowski and Swartz each face up to 25 years in prison upon conviction on just one of the grand larceny counts.

Lawyers for Kozlowski, who was with Tyco from 1975 until 2002, and Swartz, who joined Tyco in 1991 and left 11 years later, said the executives believed they were acting lawfully when they accepted compensation and loan forgiveness, or spent Tyco’s money. There was no criminal intent by either man, they said, and therefore there were no crimes.