Diet-drug fraud case deliberations continue

COVINGTON, Ky. -- A federal jury adjourned yesterday without reaching a verdict during a day of deliberations on whether three Kentucky lawyers defrauded clients of millions of dollars in a lawsuit over the diet drug fen-phen.
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Jurors are scheduled to return today to continue considering whether lawyers William Gallion, Shirley Cunningham Jr. and Melbourne Mills Jr. conspired to commit fraud. Deliberations follow nearly seven weeks of testimony over allegations that the lawyers enriched themselves at the expense of their clients from a $200 million settlement with the manufacturer of the drug that has been linked to heart damage.
The 431 clients got $74 million -- about $65 million less than they should have under the contract with the lawyers, according to the government's case. Fen-phen was pulled from the market in 1997.
Jurors began deliberating about 9:30 a.m. yesterday after hearing a full day of closing arguments Monday. They made several requests for supplies or information during the first day of deliberations.
Early on they asked for a blank "flip chart," tape and a calculator, which the court supplied. Later they asked for a transcript of a deposition, or sworn statement, given by lawyer Stan Chesley -- who stepped in on the case to help negotiate a settlement -- in a separate civil lawsuit over the case.
After conferring with prosecutors and defense lawyers, U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman agreed to provide a videotape of Chesley's 2½-day deposition because only it -- not the transcript -- had been placed into evidence.
Jurors didn't say why they wanted the deposition, but defense lawyers had argued there were inconsistencies between it and Chesley's testimony at the criminal trial.