Closing arguments, Day 3

Prosecutors in the Enron trial wrapped up their closing arguments Wednesday, hitting more highlights of 15 weeks of testimony and urging jurors to decide the case against former Enron Chairman Ken Lay and ex-CEO Jeff Skilling as a "black and white" matter.

Prosecutor Sean Berkowitz delivered the final two hours of government arguments yesterday morning, saying Lay and Skilling's testimony in the trial was nonconclusive and evasive. The pair denied having seen key documents, said they didn't work hands-on with the day-to-day operations of Enron and couldn't remember important facts about 200 times, Berkowitz said: "If what you heard in these past four months is business as usual in corporate America, ladies and gentlemen, I would suggest we all take our money out of the stock market and never put a nickel back in." He told jurors Lay and Skilling kept up a pattern of deception when it came to Enron's corporate health, and it is the jury's job to separate the truth from the lies:

"These men lied. They withheld the truth. They put themselves in front of their investors and I'm asking you to send them a message that it's not all right. You can't buy justice you have to earn," Berkowitz concluded.

The jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon, and now the name of the game is what its decision will be and how long it'll take to reach it. A shorter deliberation could mean good news for the prosecution, obersvers say, but defense lawyers pushed for a hung jury during their closing statements Tuesday (which is kind of an interesting approach, we think). We can't wait to see who plays the jury foreman in the remake of 12 Angry Men.