(Bloomberg) ? Jurors weighing larceny charges against former Tyco International Ltd. chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski told the presiding judge they may be deadlocked because deliberations have become ?poisonous.?

Austin Campriello, a lawyer for Kozlowski, moved for a mistrial based on three notes the jurors sent to the judge in late afternoon describing the situation.

The judge denied the motion, noting that two extreme accusations had been made in the jury room and that there was an ?intense? dispute involving one juror who had stopped deliberating.

?The idea that someone may have made incendiary remarks is not all that remarkable,? said Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus after reading the notes, which contained the panel?s request that the juror be dismissed. The trial may result in a hung jury if the members are not able to resolve their differences.

Kozlowski left the courtroom after the mistrial motion was denied, smiling. ?No comment at all,? he said. Campriello argued that a mistrial was required because ?we believe the right to a fair trial no longer exists based on these notes.?

The panel, in its sixth day of deliberations, had postponed a planned reading of transcribed testimony by Kozlowski?s co- defendant, Tyco?s former chief financial officer Mark Swartz, until this afternoon while they discussed an issue on which they had made progress in the morning.

They did not specify the issue in a note to the judge.

The three notes indicated ?a certain dispute in the jury room,? Obus said before his denial of a mistrial.

The morning deliberation was another unexpected delay in the proceedings. Jurors asked yesterday for a reading of the testimony by Swartz, the sole defence witness. He testified for nine days last month. The reading was set for this morning.

The jury asked the judge in note sent out at 2:25 p.m. New York time today, to ?indulge us with more time. We are purposefully unspecific as we are attempting to work through this portion of the process. With your kind permission, we would like to let you know when we are ready ? hopefully today.?

Jurors said yesterday that they wanted to hear Swartz?s explanation of why certain bonus payments were paid at different times of the year. Swartz contended in testimony that they were part of his annual compensation.

?Please narrow this as much as possible to where he addresses the issues of interim and early payout,? the jury said in a note to Obus.

Prosecutors told the jury that the bonuses were taken illegally. Swartz argued they were ?interim? or ?advance? bonuses. The bonuses account for most of the $170 million in compensation that the two men are accused of stealing from Tyco.

Kozlowski, 57, and Swartz, 43, are charged with looting Tyco of $600 million. Part of that is $430 million they got by selling Tyco shares to the company and investors after inflating the company?s stock value by issuing misleading financial statements. They face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.