The jury in the fraud trial of four former Qwest executives focused Monday on the testimonies of one of the defendants and a key prosecution witness.
Midway through their sixth day of deliberations, jurors asked a federal judge for transcripts of testimonies given by defendant and former Qwest senior vice president of sales Thomas W. Hall and former Qwest finance director Douglas Hutchins, a prosecution witness.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys argued that the jury shouldn’t be given the transcripts. U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn concurred and denied the request, saying he didn’t want to “single out” any evidence presented during the seven-week trial. Legal experts said it is typical for a judge to deny such a request because jurors are expected to rely on their individual and collective memories of the testimony.
Hall, John M. Walker, Grant P. Graham and Bryan K. Treadway face 11 counts of securities and wire fraud, conspiracy and false statements. Prosecutors allege they manipulated a sales deal to help Qwest improperly book $33.6 million in revenue during the second quarter of 2001 and meet financial targets.
The defendants have argued that they acted in good faith and were unaware of any fraudulent activity.
The 12-member jury ended Monday without reaching a verdict, but presented Blackburn with another note before recessing for the day. Blackburn didn’t disclose publicly what the jurors asked or stated.
Including Monday’s questions, jurors have made five inquiries to the judge during deliberations. Legal experts say the jury’s apparent careful review of evidence and instructions bodes well for the defense.
“Obviously, the jurors are thinking hard, and that’s good from the defense point of view,” said Ted Fiflis, a law professor at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder.
Jurors asked for transcripts of Hall’s and Hutchins’ testimonies just hours after Blackburn answered a previous question posed Friday, indicating that the two requests may be related, experts said. Before recessing on Friday, jurors had asked Blackburn to clarify the definition of “willfully.”
Blackburn told the jury that a conviction of securities fraud requires that defendants acted “willfully,” which means they knew they were doing something wrong, but didn’t necessarily know it was illegal.
“I would guess (the questions) are related,” said Larry Pozner, a partner with Denver law firm Hoffman Reilly Pozner & Williamson. “So you have to look at Tom Hall’s testimony and see who is it most important to – just Tom Hall or anybody else in the case?”
Hall testified that he believed Graham was pushing to get the sales deal completed. Hall said Hutchins, in a direct report to Graham at the time, assured him the deal was being done appropriately.
Hall also blamed himself for the legal troubles of Walker, who reported directly to Hall, because he didn’t pay enough attention to the deal.
Hutchins testified that he told Graham he was prepared to quit because he felt he was being forced to break the law.
