A federal judge denied a petition for a mistrial in the Pilot Flying J fuel rebates trial. At the center of the fraud trial is the former president of the nation’s largest diesel fuel retailer, Mark Hazelwood, and three of his subordinates; former vice president of national accounts Scott Wombold, and ex-account representatives Heather Jones and Karen Mann. The four petitioned for the mistrial after recordings featuring Hazelwood and others using racist language were introduced by the prosecution. The four are on trial in connection with a rebate scam involving several trucking concerns. In the petition, Hazelwood argued the prejudice caused by the recordings outweighed its actual value in the trial. The other defendants argued it’s unfair to have the evidence introduced by law enforcement witnesses, rather than an actual participant in the recorded conversation, since they couldn’t prove they were there for the conversation. Before the evidence was originally introduced, the court gave the jury instructions to use it only against Hazelwood, but not against the other three defendants. The judge ruled because the evidence was properly admitted to the trial and the jury received “clear and concise instruction” on how to use the evidence, the trial was fair and a mistrial would not be granted. Having been adjourned for over 20 hours, the jury continued their deliberations Wednesday morning.