CNBC Show: Business Center June 6, 2002 Thursday

ANCHORS: SUE HERERA REPORTERS: SCOTT COHN

SUE HERERA, co-anchor:

Deliberations are under way in the Arthur Anderson obstruction trial.
The accounting giant, accused of shredding documents related to the
collapse of Enron during a government investigation, could be barred
from auditing public companies if convicted. Our Scott Cohn has been
following the story for us from the very beginning. He joins us now live
from Houston with more. Hi, Scott.

SCOTT COHN reporting:

Hi, Sue. This is kind of 'read the tea leaves' time. It's hard to know
exactly what's going on in that jury room. The jury did get the case
last night, met very briefly and then got, really, down to work today.
They've been meeting for about eight hours. And they have a daunting
task here. They have to comb through 28 witnesses who testified over 20
days in court, 300-plus pieces evidence; a very long, complicated trial
and a lot of documents to go through. Since they began deliberating this
morning, they have sent some notes back into the courtroom with some
requests, and here is what they have asked for. In addition to some
office supplies they asked for at the beginning of the day--Post-it
notes, Hi-Liters and the like--they asked for the defense time line, the
time line that defense attorney Rusty Hardin used during his closing
argument. Well, that's not a piece of evidence, so they will not get
that in the jury room. They also asked for the government exhibits, or
at least a list of the government exhibits, that they used in their
closing arguments. They are getting that list. And, in addition, they
asked for a full transcript of David Duncan's testimony. They will not
get that either. They were told to--to pick out specific areas that they
want to hear about and come back, and they'll be read back to them.

You remember David Duncan. He was the government's star witness, the
Andersen partner in charge of the Enron audit, fired by Arthur Anderson
summarily in January. But his testimony really cut both ways. On the one
hand, yes, he said he pleaded guilty and tried to keep documents away
from the SEC, but he also said he took a long time getting to that plea
under the threat of some heavy prison time. And he said that he did not
believe that he was doing anything wrong when he directed the shredding
of documents back in October. Well, let's try and put some perspective
on all of this with James Doyle, who is a Houston trial attorney and
also an expert on juries. And based on what you've heard about what they
have asked for, is there anything we can read into that?

Mr. JAMES ELOI DOYLE (Doyle, Restrepo, Harvin & Robbins): Well, I think
what you can read into it is that they're taking their job very
seriously. I think, from what I've read and seen, it would appear that
this jury understands the real significance of this case, and they're
getting organized. They're going to go about their job in a mechanical
fashion, and I don't know whether that's good for the government or the
defense, saying that they're asking for each one's organizational
charts. But it looks like they're going to take this thing piece by
piece.

COHN: It clearly seems that David Duncan's testimony is crucial, and,
again, as we were saying, that cuts both ways, doesn't it?

Mr. DOYLE: I think it does because you can't tell whether they--whether
the fact that it took him so long to come to a conclusion that he was
guilty will help the defense or whether the fact that he was found
guilty and pled guilty will help the prosecution. But, obviously, they
see him as--as central to the--to their decision.

COHN: Can you give us a sense, a--a--in this kind after trial, a
document-heavy trial, what kind of a process the juries--the jury might
go through in the early stage of their deliberations and--and how they
might--will they sort of divide up and come up--come into camps at this
point?

Mr. DOYLE: Well, it's really a group--group psychology. It's how well
they get organized, and it's what the foreperson does to get them
organized. And the more they're organized, the longer it may take to
come to the conclusions that they need to. Now, in this instance, the
defense only needs one person to hold out; the prosecution has to get
all 12. The fact that they have asked, at the very beginning, for the
tools to get organized and have seemed to go about it in a methodical
way may indicate that it will take a little time for them to come to
whatever conclusion they do.

COHN: So we're going to be here for a while?

Mr. DOYLE: It could be. You never can tell.

COHN: All right.

Mr. DOYLE: You're reading the tea leaves, that's for sure.

COHN: Yeah, that's exactly -- OK, thank you.

Mr. DOYLE: Thank you.

COHN: James Doyle has been with us, helping sort through this jury as we
all wonder what's going on in that room upstairs. Ron and Sue, back to
you.

HERERA: Absolutely. You do a terrific job of doing just that. Thanks,
Scott.

COHN: Thank you.

HERERA: Scott Cohn live in Houston.

Still ahead on BUSINESS CENTER, Charles Schwab comes out with a new ad
campaign, but you won't see it on CBS. We'll take a look at the
controversial commercial. And if you've thought about refinancing your
mortgage, this might be the right time. How you can get the lowest
possible mortgage rate in Real Estate Across America. And the weight of
the world hangs over Wall Street these days: tensions in the Middle
East, India and Pakistan, coupled with the crisis of confidence and the
threat of another terrorist attack. Is there any good news out there?
InDepth: how do--you can get the--through the tough times.