After first day of deliberations, no verdict from Walker jury

The jury in the trial of former Bixby Energy Systems CEO Robert Walker completed its first day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.

Walker, 71, is on trial for 17 counts of fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion and witness tampering. Jury deliberations will resume Wednesday.

At his seven-week criminal trial in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, prosecutors contended he cheated 1,800 investors out of $57 million to enrich himself and others. Walker contends he committed no crime in the collapse of the Ramsey, Minn., company that initially sold corn-burning stoves, then promoted a coal-to-gas technology that never succeeded.