Then as the 36 counts in the verdict were swiftly read — one "not guilty" after another — Scrushy began to cry, raising a handkerchief to his eyes. What he called two years of torture was over — a rare victory for an embattled executive in a string of corporate scandals.

"I'm going to go to a church and pray," Scrushy said as he left court. "I'm going to be with my family. Thank God for this."

The verdict was a stunning setback for federal prosecutors who sought to add his name to a list of CEOs convicted of fraud.

Scrushy was the first of the high-profile chief executives to escape conviction since a wave of corporate scandals and indictments that followed Enron Corp.'s collapse, even though the case against him was widely considered among the strongest.

With all five former CFOs pleading guilty and testifying that Scrushy led a scheme to inflate earnings by $2.7 billion at the rehabilitation and medical services chain, some viewed the government's case as stronger than in other fraud trials.

Yet when it finished 21 days of deliberations, the panel acquitted Scrushy of all 36 counts of fraud, false corporate reporting and making false statements to regulators.

Eight jurors who met with reporters after the verdict said key witnesses were not credible and the prosecution failed to present substantial evidence linking the fraud to Scrushy. "The smoking gun wasn't pointing toward Mr. Scrushy," said one juror, identified only by court-assigned number.

Scrushy still faces civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"I'm disappointed in the verdict," said U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, who plans to ask the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate obstruction of justice and perjury charges that were thrown out earlier by U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre.

Scrushy's acquittal contrasts with recent convictions of several former prominent CEOs for their roles in various frauds, including Tyco International's former chief L. Dennis Kozlowski, former WorldCom boss Bernard Ebbers and Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas.

A corporate law specialist who had followed Scrushy's trial was stunned at the verdict.

"There was a mass of evidence against him. I certainly expected the jury to convict. I thought the prosecution could get a fair hearing in Birmingham, but that appears not to be the case," said Larry Soderquist, director of the Corporate and Securities Law Institute at Vanderbilt University.

Soderquist noted that the defense appeared to appeal the sympathies of the jury, composed of seven blacks and five whites. Soderquist said Scrushy has "a very high reputation in the African-American community." Scrushy assumed a more visible role at black churches in the months after his indictment.

Prominent black attorney Donald Watkins had reminded the jury in closing arguments of the struggles of the civil rights era in Alabama and how juries helped the movement succeed. Black ministers were also visible supporters of Scrushy in the courtroom throughout the trial.

Jurors told reporters after the verdict that race played no part in their views of the case. Instead, one juror said she expected the government to present "something more than hearsay."