Ebbers Trial Goes To Jury

A jury began deliberations Friday in the fraud trial of former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers, accused of orchestrating the $11 billion accounting scheme that drove the telecommunications company into bankruptcy.

The panel of seven women and five men began its deliberations in the morning, after hearing more than an hour of instructions from U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones.

"You, the members of the jury, are the sole and exclusive judges of the facts," she told them, urging them to use clear thinking and calm analysis to reach a verdict.

The jury must decide whether Ebbers, 63, orchestrated the fraud that drove WorldCom into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2002. It later emerged under the name MCI Inc.

"It comes down to a battle of credibility between Ebbers and the prosecution's main witness, Scott Sullivan, the former CFO of the company," says CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen. "Sullivan says Ebbers knew all about the fraud at WorldCom. Ebbers, who testified on his own behalf, says Sullivan is the bad guy and a liar."

On Thursday, the jury heard a four-hour closing argument from defense lawyer Reid Weingarten, who pinned the fraud entirely on Sullivan, who testified against him at trial.

"He was more rehearsed on his direct testimony than the actor who plays Hamlet on Broadway," Weingarten said. "It's hard to come up with a script where a witness has a greater motive to lie."

Sullivan, 43, hopes to win a lighter prison sentence by helping the government. He has admitted carrying out the fraud, but claims Ebbers pressured him to do it in order to keep WorldCom stock high.

Prosecutor David Anders spoke to jurors last, telling the jury there was "proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Bernard Ebbers was a member of this conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

"This is a serious case," he said. "And it's an important case. But it's not a close case."

"There wasn't much else to the prosecution's case aside from the testimony of Sullivan, so if jurors are skeptical about Sullivan's credibility, the main point of the defense, then Ebbers may have a chance to be acquitted, at least on some of the charges," says Cohen

"It's been a long trial and I don't expect the jury back quickly. There is a lot of material to go through," Cohen adds.