BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – When it comes to celebrity trials, Richard Scrushy is no Michael Jackson or Martha Stewart. The flashy Health-South founder has star power in Alabama, but not many other places.

So why try Mr. Scrushy on corporate fraud charges in his longtime home of Birmingham, where a jury could be swayed by his carefully constructed reputation as a generous but hard charging business leader?

With jurors reporting a deadlock after 12 days of deliberations in the trial of the fired HealthSouth CEO, some are second-guessing the government’s decision to try Mr. Scrushy in the city where he built HealthSouth into a leader in the medical services industry.

Pulling from a largely hometown jury pool, Mr. Scrushy’s lawyers bested prosecutors while picking jurors and got a panel that has at least some members who are sympathetic to the millionaire, said Joel Androphy, a Houston lawyer who specializes in white-collar crime.

“Lawyers are learning more and more that what matters isn’t who is the better cross examiner, it’s who’s sitting there listening to your case,” Mr. Androphy said. “It was over in jury selection.”

Former prosecutor Don Cochran said federal law gives prosecutors wide latitude in deciding where to try defendants in cases like the one against Mr. Scrushy, who could have been indicted in New York, Atlanta – anywhere HealthSouth sent financial reports with bogus numbers.

Mr. Scrushy is accused of directing a $2.7 billion earnings overstatement over seven years at HealthSouth. Prosecutors say he made millions in the meantime on bonuses and stock sales.

The defense blames the scheme on Mr. Scrushy’s underlings. Driven by greed, HealthSouth finance chiefs and other executives committed the fraud on their own and lied to Mr. Scrushy for years to cover it up, his lawyers argue.

Prosecutors repeatedly have defended the decision to indict Mr. Scrushy in Birmingham, saying the location was appropriate since many of the alleged crimes were committed there.

But prosecutors’ decision to try the former CEO in Birmingham may have played into the hands of Mr. Scrushy, whose name is on buildings throughout the area because of years of donations.

Beside the fact some jurors may drive on or past Richard M. Scrushy Parkway after a day in court, Mr. Scrushy also has a daily Bible show on cable TV, and his son-in-law is the majority owner of a TV station that airs a daily trial wrap-up that is often sympathetic to the defense.

Unless jurors break their deadlock, the judge may declare a mistrial. But the case is unlikely to be moved from Birmingham in that event. The defense would likely stymie a change of venue motion, Mr. Androphy said.