The judge in the corruption trial of two former Tyco International executives yesterday denied requests for a mistrial.
He dismissed defense attorneys' concerns that extraordinary media coverage would taint chances of a fair verdict in the case.
The jury, sent back to work once the judge rejected the mistrial motions by lawyers for former Tyco chairman Mr Dennis Kozlowski and ex-finance chief Mr Mark Swartz, spent its eighth day of deliberations asking for clarifications of charges and re-examining evidence.
In one of the biggest cases of US corporate corruption, Mr Kozlowski and Swartz are accused of looting the Tyco conglomerate of $600 million.
Defense attorneys sought a mistrial after two news organizations - the New York Postand the Wall Street Journal'swebsite - identified one of the jurors who on Friday gave Mr Kozlowski what the media reported as an "OK" sign.
The Post, which described the gesture as a sign of solidarity with the defendants, ran a huge headline labeling the juror "Ms. Trial" and describing the affluent retiree as a "holdout granny" and a "batty blueblood".
The hand gesture came after the jury sent the judge several notes last week saying deliberations had broken down amid bickering over one juror's apparent refusal to consider guilty verdicts.
"Any guilty verdict in this case would be a flawed verdict," defense attorney Stephen Kaufman argued in his effort to win a mistrial before New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus. But the judge said a mistrial would be inappropriate.