Enterasys jury finishes third day with no verdict

During its third full day of deliberations in a Concord courthouse, the jury deciding the fate of five former executives of Enterasys Networks still was unable to reach a decision after the month-long trial.

On Wednesday, jurors had two questions for U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro, primarily technical in nature.

In the morning they asked what is meant by “voluntarily?” The question appears to be in reference to whether the defendants acted voluntarily in willfully breaking the law, perhaps meaning that the jurors were particularly concerned about how culpable an employee is when following an employer’s orders. This might be good news for some of the lower-level officials, like David Boey, head of the sales in the Asian Pacific region, who is charged with altering documents on the instructions of his boss.

In the afternoon, shortly before they broke for the day, jurors asked about a particular count involving falsifying books and records and whether defendants had to be guilty of altering documents in both of the deals involving side letters or in just one of them.

The judge’s answer – either one – might be bad news to those like Boey, and former Enterasys Chief Operating Officer Jerry Shanahan, who were only accused of being involved in one.

The other defendants charged are former CFO Robert Gagalis, Bruce Kay, Vice President of Finance and Robert Barber, a former Cabletron Systems official who was a member of the Enterasys investment team.

Jury deliberation is scheduled to resume today. – BOB SANDERS