Tyco jurors focus on 'criminal intent'

NEW YORK — Jurors in the trial of two Tyco International executives accused of looting the company of $600 million focused on the concept of "criminal intent" Tuesday for the second time during their four days of deliberations.

In making the request to have the term explained again, the panel asked state Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus to "go slowly."

The judge told the jurors: "A defendant is not guilty of larceny if he believes he had the authority to take the property."

"If he is aware that he is not authorized to take the property, then taking the property is a crime," Obus added.

The jurors finished deliberating for the day without reaching a verdict and were to continue Wednesday.

Last Friday, under protest from prosecutors, Obus informed the jury that criminal intent was meant to describe a defendant's state of mind and that there was no separate definition of the term.

"That's what the law says," Obus told the prosecution on Friday. "I know you're not crazy about it, but we just work here."

Tyco's former chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski and former chief financial officer Mark Swartz are charged with 32 total counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records and violating state business laws. They each could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors say Kozlowski, 57, and Swartz, 43, stole $170 million from Tyco to finance their lavish lifestyles by taking unauthorized bonuses and abusing company loan programs. They say the two netted an additional $430 million by pumping up Tyco stock prices and selling their shares at market rates from 1995 through 2002.

The defense argued that the men earned every dime and that the board of directors and the company's auditors knew about the compensation and never objected. Kozlowski once made more than $100 million in one year.

Swartz testified that he did not do anything he believed was illegal. He said he and Kozlowski received bonuses and had their loans forgiven at many informal company board meetings at which no minutes were recorded. Kozlowski's defense team rested without calling any witnesses.

Jurors also began hearing a readback Tuesday of testimony on forgiven loans to the defendants: $25 million to Kozlowski and $12.5 million to Swartz. The jury had requested the readback of testimony by Marian Tse, an outside attorney for Tyco, about whether the forgiven loans needed to be listed as the defendants' income on a proxy statement that was seen by shareholders.