U.S. District Judge David Hittner announced to a crowded federal courtroom this morning that he would not accept the plea arrangement between the Enron Task Force and Lea Fastow. The judge declined to tell Lea Fastow what his sentence would be if she were to enter a guilty plea, anyway, and that she would have to decide whether to take the risk of his sentence. Mrs. Fastow declined and withdrew her guilty plea. Here is the NY Times article on the hearing.
Here is a copy of Mrs. Fastow’s Memorandum in support of the plea bargain.
The parties now saddle up and are scheduled for a Brownsville, Texas trial, with jury selection starting in June. Mike DeGeurin — Dick DeGuerin‘s brother despite the different last name spellings — ably represents Mrs. Fastow.
Although an unusual development, Judge Hittner’s refusal to accept the plea bargain is probably not that big a deal. It will not affect Andrew Fastow’s cooperation with the Task Force under his plea bargain, which is already extensive. Probably the biggest impact is that it may force the Task Force actually to try a case against a former Enron official, rather than simply hammer them into a plea bargain through filing of multi-count indictments that place the defendant at risk of what amounts to a life sentence if he or she dares to assert their innocence at a trial on the charges.
Another interesting dynamic that is not mentioned in the news reports is that I believe that Judge Hittner has never been thrilled with the Enron Task Force’s approach in prosecuting Mrs. Fastow. From the beginning, the prosecution of Mrs. Fastow was pursued to exert pressure on her husband. Knowing Judge Hittner, he may be holding the Task Force’s feet to the fire in this case because he does not appreciate the Task Force using a questionable prosecution to pursue goals in other criminal cases.