PITTSBURGH -- Defense attorneys for celebrity pathologist and former Allegheny County coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht want a federal judge to halt jury deliberations in Wecht's federal fraud trial until they receive more information on a juror dismissed because of a medical condition.

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Wecht's attorneys filed an emergency motion Wednesday afternoon asking the judge to stop further deliberations until they get more information, including "verifiable information from his attending physician on his condition and ability to participate in and continue deliberations."

Wecht's defense team said little as they left the courthouse, but they were clearly unhappy that the judge gave them only five minutes to consider the impact on Wecht's case of dismissing juror No. 1 for health reasons and going on with an 11-member jury.

"I thought that we should wait a while," said defense attorney Jerry McDevitt.

The defense's motion read, "The hasty removal of juror No. 1 was, under the circumstances here, completely unwarranted on the existing record and extremely prejudicial to the defense."

Wecht's jury has now deliberated more than 40 hours without being able to decide a verdict on the charges.

The defense argues that "the specter of a hung jury … is a distinct possibility … Removal of juror No. 1 may well serve to remove from the jury a juror who was not voting to convict Dr. Wecht on any charges."

Local attorney Marty Dietz, who is not involved in this case, has this observation:

"It creates an issue for appeal, certainly. I mean, whether it has any merit or not is a different story. But it injects another issue that Dr. Wecht could raise on appeal."

The judge did not immediately schedule a hearing but gave prosecutors until 8 a.m. Thursday to respond to the request.

By law, the jury can continue deliberating with just 11 members.

The defense argues it "was given no advance notice the court was even considering removing the juror, fundamentally no time to conduct legal research on the issue, and only five minutes even to discuss the situation."

The jury is deciding whether Wecht used his former county coroner's staff for his personal benefit and to do work for his lucrative private practice.

Wecht's attorneys say the 41 charges against him are minor administrative issues that don't rise to the level of federal crimes.

Deliberations are set to continue on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

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