Defendants Sunk by Their Testimony

"We answered all the questions, we tore the boxes [of evidence] apart and we looked at all the evidence," said jury forewoman Deborah Smith, who works in human resources. "We won't have to worry about this [decision] later because we did it right the first time."

"We didn't have a target of today. We were prepared to stay as long as it took to reach the verdict," she said. "We thrashed it out."

Beginning deliberations on such a complicated case, which practically required them to learn a new vocabulary of financial and business terms and Enron vernacular, "was like having a 25,000-piece puzzle dumped on the table," said Vaughan, who owns a roofing company and a fitness company and is a mother of two.

"And not all the pieces were there," added another juror.

Smith said they started by building their own timeline based on numerous dates and events they believed were pivotal to determining what happened in the company's final year, the time frame for the events that led to most of the government's charges.

They also reached conclusions on the credibility of the witnesses who took the stand, especially the government's witnesses, many of whom had pleaded guilty previously and whose testimony could affect their possible punishment.

"The people with plea bargains we questioned from different angles," said Don Martin, an electrical designer. "All their answers led to one result."

"Fastow was . . . Fastow," Martin continued, referring to former Enron finance chief Andrew S. Fastow, who faces 10 years in prison for stealing millions from the company. "We knew where he was coming from, and we kind of discounted some of what he said, but we weighed all the stuff the government witnesses said, and their answers all came to the same conclusion."

Whenever there was doubt about credibility, jurors dug through the 10 crate-size boxes to find evidence to support or discredit the testimony.

The jury delivered not-guilty verdicts on all but one of Skilling's 10 insider trading charges. In deciding the answer to each charge, forewoman Smith said, "We went by the judge's instruction: 'Not guilty' means 'not proven.' "

Baggett said the government didn't provide enough evidence for insider trading.

At one point Wednesday, jurors sent a note to U.S. District Judge Simeon T. Lake III, requesting the trial transcript. Usually, jurors can have part of trial testimony read back to them, although Lake asked them to be more precise in their request. In that note, jurors also asked for additional copies of the list of evidence.

On Tuesday, they requested speakers for the computer they were using. During the trial prosecutors had played tapes of conference calls to investors, which Lay and Skilling held several hours after they released quarterly earnings reports, as well as the tape of an employee meeting during which Lay encouraged his employees to buy more Enron stock, calling it "an incredible bargain." Government prosecutors revealed that Lay sold millions of dollars worth of Enron stock the same day.

"I don't think it's over," Vaughan said of Thursday's outcome. Both defendants plan to appeal. "Now that we have made our decision, it will be interesting to know if justice will be served or whether the almighty dollar will win again."

Staff writer Carrie Johnson contributed to this report.