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The four defendants, from left: Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh and Wadih el Hage.

From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN New York Bureau

NEW YORK (CNN) -- There will be no verdicts in the embassy bombings trial before Memorial Day. The 12 jurors deciding the case went home Thursday afternoon, their work on a 61-page, 302-count verdict form incomplete.

The jury has been deliberating since May 10 on whether four defendants were participants in a worldwide conspiracy to kill American citizens and destroy U.S. property that federal prosecutors say culminated in the August 1998 coordinated bombings of two American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania -- an effort allegedly led by Osama bin Laden, a Saudi exile living in Afghanistan who is wanted by the United States.

With no court session Friday, and Monday being a federal holiday, deliberations will not resume until 9:30 Tuesday morning -- the jury's 12th day with the case. Discounting lunch breaks and days cut short at jurors' requests, the panel has spent slightly over 50 hours in deliberations.

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 Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.   GALLERY Images from the U.S. embassy bombing in Tanzania   LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

Two defendants -- Mohamed al-'Owhali, 24, a Saudi, and Mohamed Odeh, 36, a Jordanian -- are accused of participating in the truck bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, 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 of the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 11 people and injured more than 85 others on the same day.

The fourth defendant -- Wadih el Hage, 40, a naturalized American -- is charged only with conspiracy and perjury, but not the bombings. Prosecutors depicted him as a leading facilitator of bin Laden's East Africa cell.

In 19 notes sent to U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand, the jury has indicated it is weighing the counts in numerical order -- the conspiracy charges, the bombings, the murders of bombing victims and, finally, perjury.

The jury has asked to review dozens of trial exhibits, especially documents, have testimony from two witnesses read back, and obtain clarification on conspiracy and murder law.

Jurors' notes on Wednesday and Thursday indicated they were focusing on the indictment's final 18 counts, which accuse only el Hage of lying about maintaining contacts with bin Laden, with his military commanders, with his London cell leader and with his other American associates.

In its single note Thursday, the jury asked for a letter found in el Hage's Kenya office files to Ihab Ali, an alleged bin Laden operative from Orlando, Florida, who has been incarcerated in the Manhattan federal jail since May 1999 on perjury and criminal contempt charges. El Hage's relationship and communications with Ali are the subjects of three perjury counts.

The identities of the seven female and five male jurors have not been released because of the severity 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 should be sentenced to death.

Sand and the trial attorneys agreed Thursday to start the penalty phase the day after the jury returns verdicts, abandoning the previous plan to take a short recess.

The same jury would make the death penalty decision after hearing probably another month's worth of proceedings, including testimony from more than 30 prosecution witnesses who lost relatives or suffered serious injuries in the embassy bombings.