June 01, 2006
Podcast on Enron trial's end
On Thursday, Chronicle reporter Mary Flood hosted a panel discussion of four experts closely following the Enron trial. They evaluated the meaning of the guilty verdicts against Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, and discussed issues likely to be reviewed on appeal.
Mary's guests included attorneys Stanley Schneider and Michael Wynne, and Chronicle columnist Loren Steffy. All four were actively blogging the trial on chron.com.
You can get the discussion as a podcast by cutting and pasting the path of this blog's RSS feed -- http://www.chron.com/rss/enrontrialwatch/index.rdf -- into a program that handles podcasts.
Or, you can download an MP3 of the discussion to your computer.
You can also listen to the discussion as a RealAudio stream.
Posted by Dean at 10:33 PM | Comments (1)
May 25, 2006
More on the verdict
We've posted several new stories on the site since last blog post:
Most Houstonians say convictions serve justice
For ex-Enron employees, verdict is personal
Posted by Dean at 03:24 PM | Comments (26)
New coverage on the Enron verdict
We went dark in the TrialWatch blog for a little while this afternoon while we were busy on additional coverage. Here's a quick summary of what's new from the Houston Chronicle on chron.com today:
News stories
ENRON JURORS FIND LAY, SKILLING GUILTY
Justice Department, White House react to verdict
Enron prosecutors praise verdict
Enron verdict scorecard, count by count
Blogs
Steffy: Plea agreements not an issue, jurors say
Interactive
In addition, the AP offers some videos that we've included on the site:
Workers still struggling with Enron collapse
Former Enron employee rebuilds life
More to come ...
Posted by Dean at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
Lay surrenders passport, posts bond
Ken Lay has surrendered his passport and posted a $5 million bond at a brief hearing in front of Judge Sim Lake.
Lay's wife, Linda, and his children signed the bond.
Waiting for the hearing, Lay sat quietly with his wife and his daughter, Liz Vittor, who is an attorney and acted a member of his legal team.
"You shall appear at all (court) appearances as required ... you shall specifically appear on Sept. 11, 2006, at 1 p.m. for the sentencing" and inform court of any change of address, Lake said, in going over the terms of his release while he awaits sentencing.
Lay, 64, faces as many as 20 to 25 years in federal prison.
Between now and his trial, Lay is not allowed to "drink alcohol excessively," own a firearm, or be in contact with any witnesses or jurors.
Violating those and other terms read by Lake could result in an arrest warrant.
Lay is being allowed to travel in Texas and to Colorado until his sentencing day but is required to attend various hearing in the interim.
Lake asked Lay if he understood the terms.
"I do your honor," Lay said.
"Any questions?" Lake said.
"I don't think so sir," responded Lay, his voice still resonating with confidence.
Lay then silently signed the accord.
George "Mac" Secrest, Lay's attorney, asked the judge if his client if Lay could be in contact with members of his staff who testified, including his secretary Rosalee Fleming and his accountant Sally Ballard.
The judge said that would be okay.
Lay and his family stood before the judge, right hands raised, as they swore to abide by the terms of his bond and release. There is a quit-claim deed on properties owned Lay and his family that are being used to support the bond.
Family members wept quietly as the judge filled out the paper work.
Lake dismissed court and Lay headed out to face a gaggle of cameras poised in front of the courthouse.
Posted by John Roper at 02:06 PM | Comments (7)
Breaking it down a bit
Skilling was convicted of all but nine of the 28 counts against him. Those counts related to insider trading charges that are often tough to prove. He was found guilty of one count of insider trading, for selling some 500,000 shares of Enron stock on Sept. 16, 2001.
For prosecutors, it was a clean sweep for Lay, who was found guilty of all six charges of fraud and conspiracy plus the four counts of bank fraud that were decided by Lake in a separate bench trial.
Lay, 64, could potentially spend the rest of his life in prison, as could Skilling, 52.
Posted by John Roper at 11:38 AM | Comments (26)