Judge tells jury to deliberate in fen-phen trial

A federal judge told deadlocked jurors to go back and deliberate again for the seventh day Wednesday as the possibility of a mistrial loomed in the case of two lawyers charged with defrauding their clients out of $65 million in a diet-drug settlement.

U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman sent the jurors back to reconsider the case one more time an hour after the panel reported it remained deadlocked.

Suspended lawyers William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. each face a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They were charged with taking more money from their clients than allowed in a $200 million settlement involving the diet-drug fen-phen.

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