HARRISBURG -- Five years ago, Mike Veon was one of the Harrisburg's prolific power brokers, a wheeler dealer who claimed one of the highest positions in state government.

Now, eight women and four men -- including a food service worker, a township supervisor and a retired stockroom supervisor -- have all the power over Mr. Veon. It is up to them whether to convict him of criminal charges that could land him in jail along with three co-defendants.

The jurors spent two hours deliberating today on the 139 criminal counts filed against the four defendants. Fifty-nine of those counts are against Mr. Veon, who represented Beaver County in the Legislature for two decades.

They are expected to return at 8 a.m. Monday to continue deliberating.

The judge has not yet handed them some 1,700 pieces of evidence in the case because a dispute over admissibility of some e-mail messages arose after deliberations began.

Prosecutors say there was a time-saving agreement to provide jurors with evidence that had not been read or shown in open court.

Veon attorney Joel Sansone says that's not quite right.

"We never agreed to a wholesale introduction of documents," he said.

Dauphin County Judge Richard A. Lewis said the trial is the longest to occur in the courthouse in modern history.

During the course of the trial, jurors grew close to each other. They often chatted and joked with each other during breaks. One was sometimes seen putting an arm around another. And Friday afternoon when three alternate jurors were dismissed, those staying gave them hugs, handshakes and air kisses.

"I've been here for over 35 years and I've never seen that. Very touching," Judge Lewis said as the alternates left the courtroom.

Those that remain have a big job.

"Think of some of the most important decisions you've ever made in your life," such as who to marry, where to live or what to name children, Veon attorney Dan Raynak told jurors during closing arguments Thursday. "Those decisions can all be changed," he said, "but this is one decision you can't change."

Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked jurors to keep the victims in mind during deliberations. In this case, they said, the victims are taxpayers and political candidates who use their own resources to run against "Team Veon's" taxpayer-funded political machine.

"People who do things legitimately hire people to do this work," Senior Deputy Attorney General Patrick J. Blessington said. They don't use state employees to send political mailings, knock on doors, run campaign phone banks and plan fund-raisers.

Defense attorneys admit there was some political work on state time, but they say it was too minimal to warrant criminal charges. Prosecutors disagree.

"It's not a couple of phone calls," Mr. Blessington said during closing arguments. Planning one campaign event that raised $500,000 was "like doing 10 weddings, and it's all on the taxpayers' dime."

He urged jurors to hold the defendants accountable for using millions of dollars worth of public resources to run a sophisticated and wide-ranging political operation out of state offices including the Capitol.

He said the defendants used tax dollars to expand their political power, line their pockets with taxpayer-funded bonuses and squash opposing candidates who don't have a staff of public employees at their disposal to run campaigns.

"Are you going to let them get away with that?" Mr. Blessington asked jurors. "Think about it."

He said Mr. Veon viewed his state-paid staff as campaign workers, not legislative aides. "The job of the staff was to be at his whim," Mr. Blessington said. "The job was to be Team Veon ... to be available to him ... to expand the power of his kingship."

On trial with Mr. Veon are three former legislative aides: Brett Cott, 37, of Harrisburg; Stephen Keefer, 39, of Lebanon County and Annamarie-Perretta Rosepink, 47, of Beaver Falls. All are charged with theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest for allegedly using public resources to run political campaigns of Mr. Veon and other Democrats.

At the center of the case is a scheme to award more than $1.4 million in bonuses to staffers who worked on political campaigns.

Defense attorneys acknowledge the scheme existed, but say their clients had no part in it.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.