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Enron's Lay, Skilling ask judge to move trial
By Matt Daily
1 hour, 46 minutes ago



HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling on Wednesday asked a federal judge to move their upcoming trial out of Houston because nearly all potential jurors are heavily biased against them.

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About 244 of 280 potential jurors indicated in questionnaires they held strongly negative views against Lay, Enron's former chairman, and Skilling, the former chief executive.

"Some (potential jurors) think it's a waste of time to even have a trial," Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling's lead lawyer, told reporters after a hearing at the federal courthouse.

More than 60 percent of the pool said Enron was brought down by "criminal" activities by upper management and some described Lay as "a snake in the grass" and Skilling as a criminal mastermind who "would lie to his mother if it would further his cause," the defense lawyers said in court papers.

Lawyers for the two men, whose criminal trial is scheduled to begin on January 30, also argued media attention surrounding the last week's guilty plea in the case of former Enron Chief Accountant Richard Causey further tainted the jury pool.

Causey pleaded guilty to securities fraud in exchange for a seven-year jail sentence for his role in the accounting scandal that brought down the energy giant.

Media coverage of the plea deal in Houston was extremely heavy, while in other cities, such as Atlanta, Phoenix and Denver, the story did not play as prominently in the news, the lawyers argued.

U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake last year rejected an earlier bid by the defendants to move the trial out of Houston.

If the request for a new trial venue was denied, Petrocelli said he hoped the defense lawyers would be given wider latitude to question jurors before testimony begins.

Enron collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001 after its use of off-balance sheet deals to hide billions of dollars in debt was unveiled.

Lay and Skilling have both proclaimed their innocence and laid the blame on former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, who has struck a plea deal and will be a key witness, along with Causey, against the two.

Separately, Judge Lake ruled that testimony given by Skilling to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could be introduced in the criminal trial, despite efforts by Skilling's legal team to block the testimony from being used as evidence.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060104/bs_nm/enron_venue_dc