The death of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth L. Lay early
Wednesday raises the possibility that his conviction could be erased,
complicating the federal government’s effort to close the books on one of its
most ambitious corporate fraud prosecutions. 66.
______. But when a defendant who pleaded not guilty dies before
sentencing, as Lay did, in most cases the conviction is wiped out on the grounds
that the defendant did not have the opportunity to appeal, legal experts
said. "Fifth Circuit law in particular is clear on this point,"
Stanford University law professor Robert Weisberg said Wednesday, referring to
the federal region that includes Houston. 67. ______.
Only last week, federal prosecutors flied a motion with file Houston trial
court seeking to recover $ 43.5 million that they said Lay had illegally
obtained through Enron bonuses and a line of credit extended by the Houston
energy company. Weisberg and other experts said that Lay’s death might pose
obstacles to that effort but that they expected the government to pursue
restitution. "I foresee them fighting tooth and nail," Houston
lawyer Philip H. Hilder said. The Justice Department declined to
comment Wednesday. "We’ll make a statement at the appropriate time, and the only
thing we know is the appropriate time is not today," spokesman Bryan Sierra
said. 68. ______. Coughlin said the main thrust
of the case was to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars of additional
compensation from the large banks and investment firms that remain defendants.
Any assets retained by individual defendants such as Lay and Skilling were too
small to make a material dent, Coughlin said. Skilling’s
sentencing probably will go forward as scheduled, his lead lawyer, Los Angeles-
based Daniel M. Petrocelli, said Wednesday. 69.
______. "The president has described Ken Lay as an acquaintance,
and many of the president’s acquaintances have passed on during his time in
office," Snow said in a morning news briefing. Lay’s death ended
his personal pursuit of one of his last publicly stated goals: clearing his
name. "I firmly believe that I am innocent of the charges
against me, as I have said from day one," Lay said in a statement posted on his
website soon after the May 25 verdict. He added: "I will continue to work
diligently with my legal team to prove that." 70.
______. According to the Pitkin County, Colo., coroner’s office,
coronary artery disease was the cause of the attack that killed Lay at a
vacation home near Aspen. An autopsy showed evidence of a previous heart attack.
However, friends left no doubt that the stress and humiliation of Lay’s ordeal
played a role in his death. "Some people will say he was as
guilty as sin and this is God’s judgment, but I for one will choose to remember
the positive things about Mr. Lay," said the Rev. William Lawson, 78, founding
pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston. A. Lay had
been a confidant and political contributor to President Bush and his father,
President George H. W. Bush. White House spokesman Tony Snow on Wednesday sought
to downplay. B. Lay, who at age 64 succumbed to a massive heart
attack at a rented Colorado vacation home, was found guilty by a federal jury in
May along with former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling of conspiracy
and fraud. The two were star defendants in the notorious business scandal, which
vaporized more than 4,000 jobs and billions of dollars in stockholders’
investments. C. A conviction is the decision which is taken when
someone is found guilty in a court of law. If a person is guilty, he has
officially started to have committed a crime or offence. As a role, the guilty
party should clearly have to pay the costs. When the person charged with a crime
is stated guilty, he may plead guilty or not guilty. That is, he may officially
say in a court of law that he has or has not committed the crime.
D. Lay and Skilling were scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23 and were widely
expected to face prison terms of more than 20 years. They were convicted of
lying to Enron employees and the public as part of a conspiracy to cloak the
deteriorating financial condition of a company that claimed $101 billion in
annual revenue at its 2000 peak and ranked No. 7 on the Fortune 500.
E. A ruling wiping out Lay’s conviction would leave him with a clean legal
record, technically speaking, but it probably would do little to erase the taint
of scandal. F. Lay’s death will have little effect on the
pending civil fraud lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission,
or on the massive consolidated lawsuit brought by former Enron employees and
shareholders, scheduled for trial in Houston on Oct. 16, said Patrick J.
Coughlin of San Diego law firm Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman &
Robbins, lead counsel in the case.