Deliberations were halted February 28 after a juror admitted to discussing the trial outside of the jury room. An alternate juror was seated and deliberations continued. After 18 days of deliberations five councilmembers were found guilty on some of the charges and not guilty on an equal number of charges, with other charges split 9–3 in favor of guilt. Luis Artiga, who took office after the high pay began, was exonerated of all charges. Subsequently, on March 21, a juror wrote notes to the judge requesting reconsideration of past verdicts, and another juror wrote a note accusing other jurors of bad behavior. "It seems that all hell has broken loose", remarked the judge to attorneys in the case. After another day of deliberation, the judge declared a mistrial on all remaining counts, leaving the prosecution to determine if they wanted the case retried. Former City Manager and Assistant City Manager At Rizzo's hearing, documents acquired from former Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia's computer by District Attorney Steve Cooley showed that, starting in 2005, she and Rizzo created fraudulent contracts that were not sanctioned by the City Council that elevated their salaries to "outrageous" levels and made it almost impossible to tell how much they were being paid, according to the 19-page memorandum from Cooley. "Rizzo and Spaccia succeeded in concealing their conduct for so long, in part by trickery ... and in part by buying loyalty of city employees", the memo said. Rizzo was regarded as the ringleader among the "Bell Eight", former Bell city officials (all of whom resigned or were recalled or fired), accused of bilking taxpayers out of about $5.5 million through hefty salaries, benefits and illegal loans of public money. In his opening presentation, Rizzo's attorney, James Spertus, stated, "Everybody has agreed that it's not a crime to be paid too much." Later that day, February 23, 2011, Rizzo complained of chest pains and feeling light-headed and was carried out on a stretcher during his preliminary hearing. He held a towel over his face as paramedics removed him to an ambulance. He was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital, and the hearing was adjourned for the day. Rizzo was released from the hospital the next day. Rizzo returned to court the following Monday. The next day, Rizzo slept through a good part of the hearing. On Friday of the same week, the focal point was Rizzo's enormous