No Verdict Yet in WorldCom Trial

A federal jury ended its first day of deliberations Friday but did not reach a verdict in the trial of former WorldCom Inc. Chief Executive Bernard J. Ebbers, accused of orchestrating an $11-billion accounting scheme that brought down the company.

A jury of five men and seven women spent five hours Friday deliberating the charges in federal court in New York after U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones instructed them on legal concepts that they must consider in deciding guilt or innocence, such as reasonable doubt and how to evaluate witness testimony.

The jurors’ verdict is likely to turn on whether they believe Ebbers, who testified in his own defense, or former finance chief Scott D. Sullivan, the government’s star witness.

Deliberations will resume Monday.