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The jury Wednesday asked to see this phony press pass investigators found among el Hage's office papers in Kenya.

From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN New York Bureau

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal jury in the terrorism conspiracy trial stemming from the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania abruptly adjourned its 10th day of deliberations just after lunch Wednesday because one juror had a toothache.

Four defendants have been on trial since January in the alleged worldwide conspiracy to kill Americans and destroy U.S. property that federal prosecutors say culminated in the embassy bombings and is led by Osama bin Laden, a Saudi exile living in Afghanistan and wanted by the United States.

The jury is rendering verdicts on 302 counts and filling out a verdict form that runs 61 pages covering the conspiracy, the bombings, the murders of the 224 people killed, and perjury.

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Notes jurors have sent to the judge during their deliberations have indicated they have been going through the counts in numerical order. A note sent to the court Wednesday indicated they were focusing on the final 18 counts of the indictment.

Those particular counts accuse one of the defendants, Wadih el Hage, of lying about maintaining contacts with bin Laden and his associates when el Hage relocated to Kenya in 1994.

El Hage, 40, a naturalized American originally from Lebanon, is charged with conspiracy and perjury but not with the bombings. Prosecutors depicted him as a leading facilitator of bin Laden's alleged East Africa cell.

Two defendants -- Mohamed al-'Owhali, 24, a Saudi, and Mohamed Odeh, 36, a Jordanian -- are accused of participating in the Nairobi, Kenya, truck bombing that killed 213 people, including 12 Americans, and injured more than 4,500 others on August 7, 1998.

One defendant -- Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, a Tanzanian -- is accused of participating in the truck bombing in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 11 people and injured more than 85 others on the same day.

All four are charged with participating in the conspiracy allegedly led by bin Laden.

Among the seven items the jury asked to see Wednesday were el Hage's passport, a phony press identification card investigators found among el Hage's office papers in Kenya, and records of an April 1997 phone call he allegedly made to bin Laden's satellite phone in Afghanistan.

El Hage testified before a grand jury he had no communication with bin Laden after he left his employment in Sudan in 1994, when el Hage relocated to Kenya.

The jury also asked to see photos el Hage was asked to identify before the grand jury, including a photo of alleged co-conspirator Odeh, whom el Hage said he did not know.

Wednesday's note was the 17th the jury has sent to the judge in the 10 days of deliberations.

The jury of seven women and five men are anonymous to the court, their identities protected because of the gravity of the charges. Four alternates remain on call and have not participated in deliberations.

Should the jury return guilty verdicts on the murder charges, there would be a penalty phase to determine whether defendants al-'Owhali and K.K. Mohamed are sentenced to death.

The same jury would make that decision after hearing what probably would be another month's worth of proceedings featuring testimony from more than 30 prosecution witnesses who lost relatives or suffered serious injuries in the bombings.

Court resumes at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the U.S. District Courthouse for the Southern District of New York in lower Manhattan.