After 13 days of deliberation, the Manhattan jury in the criminal trial of three former executives of the Dewey & LeBoeuf law firm may be at an impasse, The New York Times reported yesterday. The 12-person jury sent a note to the judge saying that they were unable to come to a unanimous agreement on a majority of counts against the three men: Steven H. Davis, Stephen DiCarmine and Joel Sanders. Prosecutors contend that the three men orchestrated an accounting fraud at the New York law firm that collapsed in bankruptcy in May 2012. The three are accused of causing tens of millions of dollars in losses for the banks and insurance firms that provided financing to Dewey. The jury’s inability to reach a unanimous verdict on dozens of criminal counts of grand larceny, scheme to defraud and filing false business records is a potentially unsettling development for one of the signature white-collar cases that have been brought by the Manhattan district attorney. The jury sent out its note shortly after the trial judge had asked prosecution and defense lawyers whether he should instruct the jury about the possibility of reaching a partial verdict on some of the counts facing the defendants.
