In what appears to be a questionable ruling, former Enron CEO and COO Jeff Skilling was required to leave the courtroom on Friday morning during the ongoing trial of the Enron Broadband trial.
Normally, at the commencement of most trials, counsel for either or both parties will invoke “the rule,” which simply means that fact witnesses cannot listen to the testimony of any other witnesses during the trial. The rule was apparently invoked at the start of the Enron Broadband case.
However, prior to the commencement of the trial, one of Mr. Skilling’s lawyers — Daniel Petrocelli — had been advised that Mr. Skilling would not be called as a witness during the trial. So, on Friday morning, Mr. Skilling walked into the courtroom gallery to attend the trial, probably in anticipation of the testimony of former president of Enron Broadband Services and close Skilling confidant, Ken Rice, who has copped a plea bargain and began his testimony yesterday afternoon on behalf of the prosecution.
When the prosecution realized that Mr. Skilling was in the courtroom, the prosecutors raised an objection to U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore based on “the rule.” Mr. Skilling was asked to leave the courtroom and did so without incident.
If Mr. Skilling had indeed been taken off the witness lists for Broadband trial, then it was more than a minor mistake to exclude him from attending the testimony of Mr. Rice. Inasmuch as Mr. Rice’s testimony on behalf of the prosecution is going to be detrimental to, and disputed by, Mr. Skilling in his trial next January, Mr. Skilling is absolutely entitled to be present in the courtroom during that testimony so long as he is not going to be called as a witness during the trial.
If a witness is not telling the truth in his testimony, then often it is much harder to prevaricate in the presence of someone who knows that the witness is lying. Inasmuch as the truth of Mr. Rice’s testimony is a key issue in the Broadband trial, the jury in the Broadband trial ought to be allowed to view Mr. Rice’s demeanor while testifying in front of his former boss who, if Mr. Rice’s testimony is false, would know it.