Say Anything Blog

A federal judge Tuesday vacated the conviction of Enron’s late founder Kenneth Lay, wiping out a jury’s verdict that he committed fraud and conspiracy in one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history.

Lay was convicted of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks in two separate cases on May 25.

Lay died of heart disease July 5 while vacationing with his wife, Linda, in Aspen, Colo.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, in a ruling Tuesday, agreed with Lay’s lawyers that his death required erasing his convictions. They cited a 2004 ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found that a defendant’s death pending appeal extinguished his entire case because he hadn’t had a full opportunity to challenge the conviction and the government shouldn’t be able to punish a dead defendant or his estate.