JURY REMAINS OUT IN TRIAL OF EX-COPS

Jurors in the federal racketeering retrial of a pair of former Prichard
detectives deliberated another full day Monday in U.S. District Court in
Mobile without returning a verdict.

Anthony Diaz and Frederick Pippins face allegations they took cash from
drug suspects in exchange for letting them go. If convicted on all counts,
Diaz could face more than 15 years in prison; Pippins could get up to nine
years.

Diaz and Pippins went on trial with four other former Prichard officers in
October. The jury in that case spent three days in deliberations but
deadlocked, forcing a mistrial.

The other four officers pleaded guilty Jan. 4. Two of them -- former Lt.
James Stallworth Jr. and former Sgt. John Stuckey -- testified against
Pippins and Diaz last week.

Pippins and Diaz went back on trial Jan. 28. Jurors heard closing arguments
and deliberated for about an hour Thursday, then again all day Friday.

The panel sent a note with several questions in it to Chief U.S. District
Judge Charles Butler Jr. just before 5 p.m. Monday. Butler called the
lawyers into his chambers for a conference, then returned to the bench and
brought the jury back into the courtroom.

Lawyers on both sides declined to comment on the contents of the note,
citing orders from Butler.

The judge complimented jurors for their efforts and told them he would have
to confer with the lawyers at greater length before he could answer all of
the questions in the note.

"I want you to be careful about where you are with this right now," Butler
told the panel. "We want to make sure that you do this the right way. We
don't want to stumble into this and make an error."

Butler then dismissed the jurors, who -- like the lawyers, as well as Diaz
and Pippins -- left the courtroom bearing grim looks.

Deliberations are set to resume around 9 a.m. today at the federal
courthouse downtown on St. Joseph Street.