ANGLETON, Tex., Aug. 18 (AP) - Jurors in the nation's first Vioxx-related trial ended their first day of deliberation after seven hours Thursday and were to resume early Friday.

A little more than an hour into deliberations, the panel asked for copies of several documents admitted into evidence during the trial. Lawyers gave the jury the requested documents along with hundreds of other documents admitted into evidence.

The drug maker Merck is being sued in state district court by Carol Ernst, the widow of Robert C. Ernst, who died after taking Vioxx, a painkiller, for eight months.

Mrs. Ernst's lawyer, W. Mark Lanier, has asked jurors to award at least $40 million in noneconomic damages.

Merck introduced Vioxx with great fanfare in 1999 as a pain reliever that cut the risk of stomach bleeding by inhibiting a blood-thinning enzyme. Last year, the company withdrew the drug, which grew into a $2.5-billion-a-year seller, from the market after a study showed it could double the risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or longer.

Of the two alternate jurors who heard all the evidence in the trial but have been dismissed from the case, one said Thursday that he would have voted against Merck and the other said that she was undecided.

Raul Hernandez, a 62-year-old retired chemical plant production supervisor, said that he was unimpressed with the drug maker's defense and that he believed Vioxx helped cause Mr. Ernst's death in May 2001.

Yet Brenda Hall, a 37-year-old receptionist, said she had not made up her mind.

"They were both real good," she said. "I know it's hard for the other jurors, but I'm sure they'll work hard and make the right decision."