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The Enron Verdict
Jurors made it clear Lay, Skilling hurt themselves on the stand
By Carol Rust
Special to the Washington Post
HOUSTON, May 25 - Jurors in the Enron trial made it clear that it would have been better for former executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling if they'd kept their mouths shut and stayed off the witness stand. Speaking shortly after a federal judge read their verdict, jurors said Lay's indignant outbursts while testifying in his own behalf made him seem "that he very much wanted to be in control - he commanded the courtroom," said Wendy Vaughan, a Houston business owner.
"He was very focused, but he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder that made me question his character," she said.
As for Skilling, who spent days explaining the tedious financial inner workings of the once high-flying company, the jurors couldn't understand how he could know so much about that and not be aware of illegal business maneuvering, whether or not he was responsible for it personally. "Skilling was supposed to be a hands-on individual," said Freddy Delgado, an elementary school principal. "It's hard to believe a hands-on individual wouldn't know what was going on. "When he got on the stand and knew what a (technically complicated) chart was and how it worked, he knew he was involved," Delgado said. Elementary school teacher Kathy Harrison said she was glad Lay and Skilling took the stand during their trial. Had they not, "I would have always had questions," she said. Jurors, who appeared from the start of the trial to form a close and cohesive unit, collectively hissed when one brought up Lay's testimony about how he felt his employees' pain, given his multi-million stock sales in the weeks leading up to Enron's bankruptcy. During that time, Enron's human resources department was switching to a new savings program and employees couldn't sell their stock, which for many was their life savings. Lay's stock sales "meant a lot," said legal department manager Doug Baggett. "It defined the word 'intent.'" "It very much to the character of the person he was - cashing out at the expense of employees," Delgado said. Juror Carolyn Kuchera, a payroll manager, said most jurors worked nights and on weekends to maintain their personal and professional lives during the four months of testimony and less than six days of deliberations. "The responsibility of Lay and Skilling -- all I can do is relate that to what we had to do," she said. "We did our jobs on nights, weekends and holidays. We would leave here to go to work. We were accountable - those (Enron) employees deserved the same thing." Speaking early Thursday afternoon in a sixth-floor jury assembly room, the jurors - who dressed in red for Valentine's Day, wore Mardi Gras beads on Fat Tuesday and dressed in Western clothing on Texas Independence Day - sometimes finished each other's sentences and voiced confidence that they had made the best decision possible after the biggest collective challenge of their lives. "We answered all the questions, we tore the boxes (of evidence) apart and we looked at all the evidence," said jury forewoman Deborah Smith, who works in human resources. "We won't have to worry about this (decision) later because we did it right the first time. "We didn't have a target of today. We were willing to stay as long as it took to reach the verdict," she said. "We thrashed it out."
Beginning deliberations on such a complicated case, which practically required the to learn a new vocabulary of financial and business terms and Enron vernacular, "was like having a 25,000-piece puzzle dumped on the table," said Vaughan, who owns a roofing company and a fitness company and is a mother of two.
"And not all the pieces were there," added another juror. Smith said they started by building their own timeline based on numerous dates and events they believed were pivotal to determining what happened in the company's final year, the time frame for the events that led to most of the governments charges. They also reached conclusions on the credibility of the witnesses who took the stand, especially the government's witnesses, many of whom had pleaded guilty previously and whose testimony could affect their possible punishment. "Fastow was … Fastow," Martin continued, referring to former Enron finance chief Andrew S. Fastow, who faces 10 years in prison for stealing millions from the company. "We knew where he was coming from, and we kind of discounted some of what he said, but we weighed all the stuff the government witnesses said and their answers all came to the same conclusion." Whenever there was doubt about credibility, jurors dug through the 10 crate-size boxes to find evidence to support or discredit the testimony. The jury delivered not-guilty verdicts on all but one of Skilling's 10 insider trading charges. In deciding the answer to each charge, forewoman Smith said, "We went by the judge's instruction: 'Not guilty' means 'not proven.'" Baggett said the government didn't provide enough evidence for insider trading. At one point Wednesday, jurors sent a note to U.S. District Judge Simeon T. Lake III, requesting the trial transcript. Usually, jurors can have part of trial testimony read back to them, although Lake asked them to be more precise in their request. In that note, jurors also asked for additional copies of the list of evidence.
On Tuesday, they requested speakers for the computer they were using. During the trial, prosecutors had played tapes of conference calls to investors, which Lay and Skilling held several hours after they released quarterly earnings reports, as well as the tape of an employee meeting during which Lay encouraged his employees to buy more Enron stock, calling it "an incredible bargain." Government prosecutors revealed that Lay sold millions of dollars worth of Enron stock the same day. "I don't think it's over," Vaughan said of Thursday's outcome. Both defendants plan to appeal. "Now that we have made our decision, it will be interesting to know if justice will be served or whether the almighty dollar will win again."