Word: petrocelly
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...defense will start arguing its case on Monday, but Skilling's attorney Daniel Petrocelli said the former CEO will not take the stand for at least a week. Petrocelli will probably begin by laying the groundwork for a defense that claims the executives were merely using standard business practices employed by other companies, says Houston attorney and former federal prosecutor Michael Wynne. Most likely, he says, the two executives will argue that they were just trying to save the company and that if Enron had survived, what investors hadn't known wouldn't have hurt them. "That, perhaps...
...think it's a reminder of how dangerous it is that prosecutors can overreact in putting businesses on trial," Skilling attorney Daniel Petrocelli told TIME. "I'm going to be real clear to the jury [in closing arguments] about conduct that is appropriate. You can't try business cases in a criminal courtroom unless you've got real solid evidence that a crime has been committed." Said Lay attorney Mike Ramsey: "Clearly there's got to be a connection between business judgments and specific intent. That bright line is being erased by these prosecutions, and the Supreme Court...
...Petrocelli asked Fastow if Lay and Skilling stole $120 million, as Fastow had. "They stole in different ways," Fastow answered, arguing that inflating earnings and hiding losses made the stock price go up - benefiting senior management, which owned lots of stock...
...only crack in Fastow?s composure came during direct examination, when he nearly cried when he talked about misleading his wife and causing her year-long incarceration. But he held the tears in check when Petrocelli pressed him on the same subject, suggesting he had betrayed and sacrificed his wife to save himself life imprisonment. " You love your children, don?t you?" Petrocelli said. "You must be consumed with insatiable greed." Fastow kept repeating that he and his wife made decisions that were best for their family...
...Petrocelli is finished with Fastow, but the defense isn't. His cross-examination will continue Monday morning, when Ken Lay?s defense attorney, Michael Ramsey, picks up where Petrocelli left off. Courtroom observers are impressed with the case the prosecution is building up and warn that keeping Fastow on the stand risks taking the focus away from the defendants. "Fastow?s testimony was dangerous for both sides,? said Houston attorney David Berg, author of The Trial Lawyer: What It Takes to Win. "If the government is smart, it will close down its case as soon...