Skilling to be sentenced this afternoon

Five months after former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was found guilty of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading, Skilling will learn his fate at 1 p.m. today in the federal courthouse at 515 Rusk Ave. And the hearing is open to the public — so hey, if you're having a slow afternoon, why not swing by?

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Judge Sim Lake could give Skilling more than 20 years in prison if investor losses related to his actions are determined to have totaled more than $80 million. Prosecutors and Skilling's lawyers already know what the loss figure is, but the rest of us don't yet: "The government and we have agreed on a loss number to avoid a protracted hearing on the subject," Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling's attorney, told the AP. "Any sentence is a meaningful sentence. I don’t want to talk about or speculate on the length of it." (If it's anything to go by, one attorney representing ex-Enron employees who owned stock and participated in the company savings plan says his clients lost $1.3 billion.) Skilling also faces more than $18 million in fines and several civil suits from Enron investors.

A potentially interesting part of this afternoon's hearing will be the segment where former Enron employees and investors will be allowed to speak. With ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay dead, it'll be much easier for people affected by the company's collapse to focus their attention on Skilling — who, by all accounts, was always easier to dislike. "It was more due to their personalities," Severed Enron Employee Coalition Chairman Rod Jordan told the AP. "Lay was more of a people oriented person. Skilling was more behind the scenes. He came across as more arrogant and self centered and not the cheery, ‘hi-how-are-you’ kind of guy that Lay was." About 10 people had signed up to speak as of this morning.

Skilling's hearing will begin at 1 p.m. in Courtroom 9B; there will be 50 seats available for spectators. Lake will outline the federal sentencing guidelines first, after which Skilling will be allowed to address the court for as long as he wants. When he is finished, each of the people who have signed up to speak will be given five minutes to have their say, after which arguments will begin from the prosecution and defense. There's no time limit on their presentations, so the hearing could continue into Tuesday morning. If you go, we suggest taking snacks.