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Jury Ends First Full Day Of Deliberations In DiMasi Trial

After five hours Tuesday, the federal jury weighing charges against former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and two associates concluded its first full day of deliberations.

Jurors met for about two hours on Monday and early Tuesday asked Judge Mark Wolf to repeat some of his instructions.

"The jurors are all paying attention," said WBUR's David Boeri. "At one point, the judge wanted to break because the instructions were going so long. The foreman said, 'No, please continue.' They want to get about their business."

The panel resumed deliberations late Tuesday morning. They will begin again Wednesday morning.

The government accuses DiMasi, Richard McDonough and Richard Vitale of scheming to use DiMasi's clout to steer two state contracts worth a combined $17.5 million to the software firm Cognos in exchange for payments, with DiMasi pocketing $65,000.

The defense argues the payments were legal referral fees.

Wolf had told the jury to give particular scrutiny to the testimony of former software salesman Joseph Lally, who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other men in a plea deal.

With reporting from The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom

Earlier Coverage:

-- Here are Judge Wolf's instructions to jurors (on Scribd):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/57858177/Jury-Instructions-For-DiMasi-Trial

This program aired on June 14, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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