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More on the SCOTUS sentencing guidelines decision
The dust is settling on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision yesterday in United States v. Booker and United States v. Fanfan that the federal sentencing guidelines are unconstitutional because they violate a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to be tried by...
SCOTUS rules on sentencing guidelines
The Supreme Court ruled today in this decision in U.S. v. Booker that the federal sentencing guidelines must satisfy the standards of the Sixth Amendment as applied in the Court's earlier ruling in Blakely v. Washington. Accordingly, the Supreme Court...
The Nigerian Barge market loss hearing
After convicting four former Merrill Lynch executives and a former Enron executive of wire fraud and conspiracy charges yesterday, the jurors in the Enron-related trial known as the Nigerian Barge case heard from opposing expert witnesses today regarding the market...
Nigerian Barge Jury convicts five out of six defendants
The federal jury in the Enron-related criminal case known as the Nigerian Barge case acquitted a former Enron accountant today and found her five co-defendants guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy charges. The jury cleared former Enron accountant Sheila Kahanek...
Are you ready to rumble? -- First Enron criminal trial begins Monday
After three years from Enron Corp.'s demise into bankruptcy, dozens of indictments and plea bargains, and an unprecendented government and media campaign to demonize former Enron executives, the first criminal trial against former Enron executives will begin Monday in Houston...
Ken Lay's Washington Post op-ed
In this Washington Post op-ed, former Enron chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Lay makes the following disclosure and asks a very reasonable question: At my request, my lawyers have filed motions in federal court asking for an immediate and...
Update on the sad case of Jamie Olis
David Gerger, appellate counsel for former Dynegy finance employee Jamie Olis filed Mr. Olis' appellant's brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals this week in which Mr. Gerger contends that Mr. Olis' conviction and 24-year prison sentence should be...
Nigerian Barge case postponed again
The Enron Task Force's recent decision to re-indict the defendants in the Enron-related Nigerian Barge case has caused another postponement of the trial in that case. The trial, which was scheduled to begin on either August 16 or 17th, has...
Blakely Redux
With strong prompting from the Justice Department, the issues regarding the validity of federal and state sentencing guidelines generated by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Blakely v. Washington decision are going to be teed up again soon in the Supreme...
Blakely decision prompts revised Enron indictments
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Blakely v. Washington (prior posts here) -- which has called into question the Constitutionality of both state and federal sentencing guidelines -- has prompted Enron Task Force prosecutors to re-indict defendants in the...
More decisions on Blakely
The decisions are coming down fast and furious from the various Circuits Courts of Appeal in regard to the recent Supreme Court Blakely decision, which was noted in these earlier posts. Professor Berman over at Sentencing Law and Policy is...
More on the sad case of Jamie Olis
This LA Times article is the best analysis that I have seen to date regarding what occurred in the sad case of former mid-level Dynegy accountant Jamie Olis that resulted in the absurd 24 year sentence for Mr. Olis. In...
Seventh Circuit decision on Blakely
Highly-regarded Circuit Judges Richard Posner and Frank Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals wrote the majority and dissenting opinions in this recent decision (U.S. v. Booker) interpreting the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Blakely. In...
Update on Lay indictment
It looked like a video campsite outside the Federal Courthouse in Houston on Thursday as the media gathered to observe the spectacle of former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay being led into the courthouse in handcuffs. Mr. Lay pled...
SCOTUS sentencing decision reviewed
In this article, the Wall Street Journal ($) does a good job of summarizing the initial reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Blakely v. Washington, a decision that could have major implications for the federal sentencing...
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