The Associated Press

NEW YORK - An elaborate trial that has come to symbolize the worst of an era of corporate excess could be derailed this week by a 79-year-old retiree from Manhattan.

Jurors in the trial of two former top Tyco International executives return this morning to deliberations they have described in notes to the judge as "poisonous" and "irreparably compromised."

Judge Michael J. Obus must decide whether to keep pushing jurors to overcome what they have described as an atmosphere of animosity that has dominated the jury room in recent days.

"The judge is going to do everything possible to refrain from declaring a mistrial," said Christopher J. Bebel, a former federal prosecutor who practices securities law in Houston. "But there's only so far he can go ... in all likelihood it looks like his efforts will be futile."

The jurors are deliberating a total of 32 counts against Tyco's former chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, 57, and the company's former chief financial officer, Mark Swartz, 43. The defendants are accused of looting $600 million from Tyco.

The defense argued that the two men earned every dime and that the board of directors and the company's auditors knew about the compensation and never objected.

On Friday, jurors wrote that they had "ceased to be able to conduct respectful, open-minded, good-faith deliberations." Obus called the note "disturbing" and "a little worse than a hung jury" and indicated he might declare a mistrial. But by the end of the day Obus had concurred with jurors' request to return to work after the weekend.