Jurors reported in the early afternoon that they were "hopelessly deadlocked," the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. But U.S. District Judge Alfred Schwab asked the jury to attempt to reach verdicts on some of the 41 counts in the case.

Wecht, 77, is one of the best known forensic pathologists in the United States and has served as a consultant in many high-profile cases -- including the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 and, more recently, the death of Anna Nichole Smith's son, Daniel, in the Bahamas. In 2006, he was indicted on charges of using his office as county medical examiner for his private gain, including allegedly steering private autopsies to his own company and selling the tissue of unclaimed bodies.