Last Crack at Lay

Government prosecutor John Hueston likely will wrap up his cross-examination of Enron founder Kenneth L. Lay today, or Tuesday at the latest.

After the cross, the defense will get a redirect examination of Lay, in an attempt to answer questions brought up by the prosecution. After that, the government may take a recross, but can address only points raised in the redirect.

Which means that Hueston has only a few remaining hours of leeway for asking Lay almost anything he wants.

One thing Hueston will not get to ask about is the Valhalla situation, which the prosecution had hoped to introduce to show that Lay has been bending the law since the 1980s. On Thursday, presiding Judge Simeon T. Lake III (SL3) said he would not let the prosecution introduce Valhalla.

I am wondering what grenades Hueston has left on his belt.

At the end of Jeffery K. Skilling's cross-examination, government prosecutor Sean Berkowitz dropped the Photofete scandal down in Skilling's lap, catching him completely off guard. Lawyers watching the trial said they think the government hopes to leave the jury thinking of Photofete as the small picture of the big picture: If Skilling didn't tell the whole truth on a minor conflict of interest, he may not be telling the truth about larger matters -- namely, the 28 fraud, conspiracy and insider-trading charges against him.

Hueston is the prosecutor who procured the indictment against Lay. He probably believes he knows the Enron founder as well as anyone. Hueston spent nearly three hours Thursday on a mind-numbing trek through Enron's British water company, accusing Lay of falsely raising Valhalla's value on Enron's books.

I can't imagine he'll revisit that for his big finish, for his final crack at Lay -- the man he's been chasing for more than two years.

If he does, then Hueston may have a problem.

By Frank Ahrens |  May 1, 2006; 7:45 AM ET  | Category:  Dispatches
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