One of the first criminal trials to stem from corporate America's recent scandals ended in a mistrial last night when a jury deadlocked over whether ex-Silicon Valley financier Mr Frank Quattrone tried to block government probes of new-stock offerings.
The outcome of the closely watched proceeding represented a stinging defeat for federal prosecutors, and raised questions about how the government will fare in upcoming trials of other white-collar defendants, as well as whether Mr Quattrone will face a retrial.
Mr Quattrone was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of witness tampering. In the jury's final vote yesterday, the tally was 8-3 in favor of conviction on one obstruction count and on the tampering count, one juror said, and 6-5 for acquittal on the remaining count.
The final votes belied what appeared to be sentiment for acquittal through most of the deliberations. The first jury vote last week was 7-4 in favor of acquittal and remained 6-5 for acquittal on all counts until yesterday, the juror said.
The deep division among the jury seemed to indicate that ordinary Americans are less willing to convict corporate executives than previously assumed, analysts said.
That could have implications for the government's broad crackdown on white-collar crime by making prosecutors reluctant to press such cases while emboldening corporate defendants to fight charges rather than agree to plea bargains.
"It is going to roll back some of the momentum in prosecutions like this," said Warren L. Dennis, a white-collar defense partner at Proskauer Rose in Washington. "Prosecutors around the country do not want to see their names in the paper with this outcome."
The Quattrone outcome could have the most immediate effect on the defense strategy of home-design entrepreneur Martha Stewart, who is scheduled to stand trial in mid-January on obstruction and other charges. Like Quattrone's, the case against Stewart is viewed as tough to win.
AP