Change in law may affect Lay case

Last month, ex-Enron chief Ken Lay's lawyers began making moves toward having Lay's conviction on charges of fraud and conspiracy vacated, and government prosecutors indicated they would put up a fight. Well, turns out the government wasn't just whistling Dixie: In a court filing yesterday, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Sim Lake to hold off on ruling about the vacation until Congress can consider changing the law.

The issue at hand is a 2004 ruling from the 5th Circuit Court that found a defendant's case should be extinguished because he died before he had the chance to appeal his conviction. In their court filing, the lawyers for Lay (who died of a heart attack July 5) claim his death "necessitates" dropping his conviction because the former Enron leader intended to appeal. The measures Congress will take up address that situation, prosecutors say:

"Certain provisions of the (legislation) would be directly relevant to the situation presented by defendant Lay's death," prosecutors Sean Berkowitz and John Hueston wrote in their motion. "For example ... the (legislation) provides that the death of a defendant charged with a criminal offense shall not be the basis for abating or otherwise invalidating either a verdict returned or the underlying indictment."

If the new law is approved, the Justice Department would seek to make it retroactive to July 1.