March 12, 2003 was a crappy day for Kevin Howard, former chief financial officer of Enron Broadband Services. He, along with Michael Krautz, former EBS senior accounting director, were arrested.
The arrest was Mr. Howard’s first taste of the DOJ’s brand of cowboy justice, but not the last by far. Mr. Howard was tried twice on the same five charges, and a judge (wisely) threw out his conviction. It was the only jury convictions in the EBS trial won by the government so far. The score card at the moment is:
Criminal defendants: 34
Guilty pleas: 18
(Ben Glisan, Lea Fastow, Andrew Fastow, Richard Causey, Michael Kopper, Mark Koenig, Paula Rieker, Timothy Belden, Jeffrey Richter, Lawrence Lawyer, Dave Delainey, Ken Rice, Kevin Hannon, John M. Forney, Timothy Despain, David Bermingham, Giles Darby, Gary Mulgrew)
Jury Convictions: 4
(Ken Lay [conviction vacated], Jeff Skilling [Innocent and will be vindicated on April 2], Dan Boyle, James A. Brown)
Acquittals: 2
(Sheila Kahanek, Michael Krautz (found not guilty in second trial, May 2006. First trial ended in mistrial.)
Convictions overturned: 4
(Kevin Howard, Daniel Bayly, Robert Furst, William Fuhs [Convictions thrown out on appeal for lack of evidence])
Case dropped: 2
(David Duncanm, Christopher Calger)
Mistrials: 3
(Joe Hirko, Rex Shelby, F. Scott Yeager)
Not exactly the slam dunk the Enron Task Force would have you believe. If the entire company was crawling with evil, it seems they should be able to get more than 4 convictions. Well, three anyway since Ken Lay died in July 06 of a heart attack and his conviction was vacated. So three. And it’s about to be two when Jeff Skilling gets his appeal.
Tom at Houston Clear Thinkers has a great summary of the Enron DOJ’s disasterous handling of the Enron cases.
Enron Online: The Enron Blog 
The astute will note that Petrocelli, for one, certainly believes the Fastow notes are highly exculpatory indeed. If you’re curious, check out http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5611810.html
oop – you beat me to it 🙂
You know, the Enron Task Force, usually with public and media support, has acted with a classic witch-hunt mentality. It is difficult to believe that some bright journalist has not seized on the opportunity to write an expose’ of the fiasco. The misconduct of the federal prosecutors in the Enron proceedings is a huge story — thanks for your posts on the subject.
Evan, some bright journalist has. I’m writing a book.
You’re right – it’s a scandal the way the Enron TF has used its power. Whether or not anyone believes Jeff is innocent, the TF has an obligation to perform its job well, in an unbiased manner. It has failed miserably.
Cara, good luck with the book. I will buy many copies.
Gracias!