By CATHERINE WILSON
 Associated Press Writer

 MIAMI -- (AP) -- The six-month trial of five secret agents who admit working for Cuba as part of the self-proclaimed Wasp Network went to the jury today.

 "It's been an interesting odyssey,'' U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard said after sending the 12-member jury out and excusing three alternates. She told attorneys to be
 available within 10 minutes for any questions and the verdict.

 Three agents are charged with espionage conspiracy, and reputed ringleader Gerardo Hernandez is charged with murder conspiracy in a MiG attack that killed four Miami fliers on two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.

 The trial, which relied heavily on 2,000 pages of the defendants' decrypted messages, also includes charges of fraud conspiracy, failing to register as foreign agents and possessing false documents.

 The defense claims prosecutors are using Hernandez as a scapegoat for a military decision made after two years of provocative invasions of Cuban airspace by the Miami exile group and repeated U.S. and Cuban warnings.

 The fraud count charges the agents defrauded the U.S. government by getting false passports, cozying up to the FBI as informants and trying to manipulate members of Congress.

 Defense attorneys, who worked hard to successfully select a non-Cuban jury, accused prosecutors of conjuring up nonexistent evidence in their closing arguments to
 buttress a crumbling case.

 If convicted, Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, who supervised agents assigned to penetrate the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, and Antonio Guerrero, who worked menial jobs at Boca Chica Naval Air Station in Key West for five years, face possible life sentences.

 Fernando Gonzalez, who allegedly brought internal communications codes to the network, and Brothers to the Rescue infiltrator Rene Gonzalez, no relation, face up to 10-year prison terms on the unregistered agent counts.

 They were charged along with nine others. Five pleaded guilty in exchange for cooperation and reduced sentences, and four are fugitives believed to be in Cuba.