At the outset of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, the Enron Task Force prosecutors estimated that it would take nine weeks to put on its case-in-chief against the defendants.

Inasmuch as that prediction assumed four days of trial time each week and that the defense would use the same amount of time on cross-examination of each witness as the prosecution used on direct, the prosecution’s prediction effectively meant that the Task Force believed that it could put on its entire case against Lay and Skilling in eighteen days of testimony.

Well, the Task Force’s prediction has pretty well gone by the wayside with its first witness, former Enron investor relations chief, Mark Koenig.

After the Task Force took two-and-a-half days on Koenig’s direct examination, the defense has used the past three-and-a-half days for cross-examination, and it now looks as if Koenig’s testimony will continue for at least another day-and-a-half, which means that the prosecution will not be in a position to present its second witness — former Enron Broadband co-CEO Ken Rice — until next Tuesday afternoon at the earliest.

Next Tuesday marks the beginning of the third week of the trial.

Moreover, when Koenig is finally through testifying, the prosecution will have used over three days of its original 36-day prediction (over 16% of its case-in-chief) on examination of Koenig.

There is no way that the testimony of Koenig — who is primarily a background witness who was not involved in the mechanics of how Enron’s earnings and finances were evaluated — represents over 16% of the prosecution’s case-in-chief.

This is shaping up to be one very long slog.