WILL ENRON CONVICTIONS BE OVERTURNED ON TECHNICALITY?

One of the biggest stories of a busy news day Thursday was the conviction of Enron founder/chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling on conspiracy and fraud charges in one of the biggest business scandals in American history.

But will we have to go through the whole process again? It is very possible.

I was listening to the public radio business news show Marketplace after work last evening when the host was interviewing Houston Chronicle reporter Mary Flood, who had been covering the trial, and she notes that there are several areas where an appeal could quite possibly be successful. Quoting from the broadcast transcript:

Of course, there is going to be an appeal. And there are a lot of places where they could appeal. Some of them would include the change of venue, that we've stayed in Houston. Another would include all the evidence about Mr. Skilling's former girlfriend's business, that he and Mr. Lay invested in. The government didn't say that they were going to bring that up. And there are several more, including the deliberate ignorance or willful blindness jury instruction, though it didn't sound like that was particularly potent for the jury.

Of course, the most glaring case for an appeal is the fact that no change of venue was granted. The trial should never have been held in the Bayou City, where Enron was based and many people either were directly affected by Enron's downfall or at least knew someone affected. That alone screams for a retrial, and the prosecutors should have known better than to try and get the easy conviction.

BTW: A little mentioned fact: Jeffery Skilling's oldest brother may be familiar to some of you who have cable television. He is Tom Skilling, longtime chief meterologist for Chicago television station WGN.