Going through a list of 11 one-time HealthSouth executives implicated in the scheme, defense attorney Jim Parkman repeatedly asked FBI agent Gerry Kelly whether their offices were on the fifth floor, where Scrushy's suite was located at headquarters.

With each name, Kelly either said the workers' offices weren't on the fifth floor or he wasn't sure where they had been located.

The 11 were "doing the dirty work of the conspiracy, right?" Parkman asked.

"They were the mechanics," Kelly said.

But prosecutors brought out earlier that all five finance chiefs who pleaded guilty in the fraud had offices on the fifth floor near Scrushy's, a point government attorney Richard Smith repeated after Parkman finished questioning Kelly, the first defense witness.

"The key people in the fraud reported to the defendant, didn't they?" Smith asked.

"Yes," Kelly said.

U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre appeared exasperated with Smith's questions at times, loudly sighing when Smith asked to approach the bench to clear up a legal question. Earlier, she gave defense attorneys a few moments to confer among themselves as Kelly waited on the stand.

Scrushy is accused of directing a scheme to overstate HealthSouth earnings by some $2.7 billion from 1996 through 2002. Prosecutors contend he made millions off bonuses, stock sales and salary while making it appear HealthSouth was meeting Wall Street expectations.

The defense blames the fraud on 15 former HealthSouth executives who pleaded guilty and contends they hid the conspiracy from Scrushy for years.

Scrushy is the first CEO with violating the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reporting law, passed in 2002. He also is accused of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

Scrushy could receive what amounts to a life term and be ordered to forfeit some $278 million in assets if found guilty.

-- Jay Reeves