MADISON, Wis. -- A Dane County jury went home for the night after it started deliberating in the state Capitol corruption trial of Rep. Scott Jensen and former Republican aide Sherry Schultz.

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Closing arguments were completed on Thursday and so the fate of Jensen and Schultz is now in the hands of jurors, who began deliberations at about 6 p.m.

The jurors must decide whether prosecutors' claims that Jensen, R-Waukesha, is guilty of misconduct for allowing campaign work to be performed by state-paid employees when he served as Assembly speaker. Jensen faces three felonies for allegedly using his position to direct state-paid staffers to work on campaigns. He's also charged with a misdemeanor, accused of hiring Schultz to work solely on Republican campaigns. Schultz is charged with one felony count.

If convicted on all four counts, Jensen could be sentenced to 16 years in prison. If Schultz is found guilty, she might be sentenced to five years, WISC-TV reported.

During Thursday's proceedings, Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard and Jensen defense attorney Stephen Meyer gave their closing arguments and traded wildly different conclusions of the evidence and testimony presented.

Prosecutors have long argued that Jensen was the head of a secret campaign machine operating out of the state Capitol and using state resources, WISC-TV reported.

The strategy of Jensen's defense team during the course of the trial has been that he wasn't aware of what his employees were up to and that the line between campaign activity and state policy work is sometimes vague.

Also on Thursday, a former state worker testified that he created software to track campaign finance reports at the request of Jensen's chief of staff. Paul Tessmer, who is a former Assembly Republican Caucus employee, was the last witness to take the stand in the trial.

Tessmer said that he did most of the work on the software program while he was on vacation, but he also did some of it at the caucus' state office. He said that Jensen's then chief-of-staff Brett Healy asked him if it were possible to create such a software program, and Tessmer took the request not as an order but as a professional challenge.

Jensen took the stand on his own behalf on Tuesday and said that he didn't know the campaign activity was going on in his office, but said that he did know about activities in the Assembly Republican Caucus. He said that he thought this was OK because of the way it was explained to him when he began working at the caucus in the 1980s.

Jensen and Schultz's trial in Dane County Circuit Court is in its third week.

Jensen was once one of the most powerful lawmakers in Wisconsin, with aspirations of running for governor. Jensen stepped down as Assembly speaker after he was charged.

He is the last of five lawmakers who were charged in 2002 after media reports detailed similar allegations.

The other four legislators -- fellow ex-Republican Reps. Steve Foti and Bonnie Ladwig and former Democratic Sens. Brian Burke and Chuck Chvala -- all struck plea agreements with prosecutors to avoid trials.

Burke and Chvala were sentenced to jail time. Former Assistant Assembly Majority Leader Ladwig is expected to pay $4,500 in fines and restitution, WISC-TV reported.

Foti's deal with prosecutors entailed his pleading to a misdemeanor and the state recommending just 30 days in jail. He has already started a successful career as a lobbyist, WISC-TV reported.

NOTE: WISC-TV's Colin Benedict provides behind-the-scenes coverage of the Jensen trial in his new blog