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Workers look for survivors in the rubble of the bombed U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 7, 1998.

From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN New York Bureau

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal jury continued its seventh day of deliberations Friday in the trial of four men charged in a worldwide terrorist conspiracy to kill Americans that allegedly included the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa.

Meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Sand ruled that if a death penalty phase is required in the trial, he will allow government prosecutors to call victims to testify and to show explicit photographs of the aftermath of the attack.

The panel of seven women and five men received the case a week ago Thursday afternoon after hearing 40 days of testimony and arguments by attorneys.

CASE FILE Shattered Diplomacy: The U.S. Embassy Bombings Trial An in-depth special report on the trial of four men charged with the embassy bombings Trial reports | Timeline | Key Figures  DOCUMENTS • Jury verdict form for the U.S. embassy bombings trial (FindLaw) (PDF) Part 1 | Part 2 • Jury Questionnaire (FindLaw) Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.   GALLERY Images from the U.S. embassy bombing in Tanzania

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The four men on trial are: Wadih el Hage, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, Mohamed Rashed al-'Owhali and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed.

All but el Hage are accused of direct roles in the August 7, 1998, bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured more than 4,000 people. El Hage is accused of facilitating the terrorist cell.

The 302-count verdict form includes charges of conspiracy, of carrying out the bombings, of murder for each bombing fatality, and of perjury.

In a conference outside the jury's presence, attorneys for the two defendants who might be subject to capital punishment motioned to limit the government's presentation in the trial's next phase. If al-'Owhali and K.K. Mohamed are convicted, the same jurors will decide whether they are sentenced to death.

The government plans to call 30 victims of the Kenya bombing to testify and to introduce photographs to show the impact of the attack.

"I think it is very limited considering that hundreds of people were injured, many far more seriously than those depicted in the photographs," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia.

"I think that 42 victims testifying, 12 before [in the guilt phase] and 30 now, is a bit much," said Fred Cohn, al-'Owhali's attorney.

"How many blind people do you need to testify? I don't mean to be grotesque, but that is what it is about. It is a parade of people who have serious injuries. Every family suffered from all of this and we all know it," Cohn said.

Al-'Owhali attorney David Baugh objected to prosecutors showing a video that was made on the one year anniversary of the embassy bombing. "It is taking the jury to a memorial service, taking the jury to a funeral," Baugh said.

Sand decided the government's penalty phase agenda was appropriate and denied the al-'Owhali motions.

"What occurred was not a bloodless event. You recall that when we voir dired this jury they were alerted to the fact that the evidence might include photographs ... basically gory," Sand said.

"Blood was spilled. Part of the agony of the victims and the agony of members of their families and others who were observing was that," he said.

An attorney for K.K. Mohamed, David Ruhnke, objected to two prosecution photos of Tanzania bombing victims. One photo "depicts a charred and disfigured corpse lying on the ground," Ruhnke said, while another is "a pile of human corpses on the floor, it appears probably of some morgue."

"This is an impact on the survivors," Garcia responded. "It is still a case of mass murder."

Sand decided to allow the government to introduce those photos as well.

If needed, the penalty phase will start the week following the verdicts and is expected to last a month.

On Friday the jury asked the court to clarify the definition of aiding and abetting. The jury has now sent the court seven notes requesting to review evidence, two notes requesting clarification on the charges, and one note requesting a read-back of testimony.

On Thursday the jury heard the words of FBI agent Stephen Gaudin describing how al-'Owhali told him why the Kenya embassy was picked.

"It was an easy target," Gaudin testified. "There was a large American presence at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi; that the ambassador of the U.S. embassy was a female and if the bomb resulted in her being killed, it would further the publicity for the bombing," Gaudin said al-'Owhali told him. U.S. ambassador Prudence Bushnell survived the attack with minor injuries.