If Ken Lay rolls over on Cheney ......

... would you be okay with him getting a deferred sentence ... or even walk free?

Lay was a co-author of Big Dick's Energy Policy. Let's say that Lay offers up what's in his head and it can bring Cheney down. His price is to stay out of the can.

Can you endorse the deal?

I can.

On one hand, Lay has devestated his share of lives and the numbers of lives he's destroyed must be in the thousands, so I would hate to see him walk away from this, but then again, he probably will anyway in the end... My head would say no but my sensible gut would have to take the deal...

Just because Enron and the Bush Klan were bestest buddies and kissing cousins, doesn't mean that there is an actual illegal connection there.

They are all crooks and liars. They are in bed together and we are the raped ones underneath.

And you still need a rape kit to know you've been had?

(Apologies to victims of sexual rape, no offense intended. I have kin who....)

if Lay gives up ALL of the $$$...restitution, punishment of some kind must happen. Losing the fortune is the least acceptable option.

he gleefully gouged CA residents and impoverished many of his own employees. There should be a price to pay for that if he skates on jail.

But assume he has enough to show that Cheney needed to go into Afghanistan for that pipeline and that there were maps of Iraq with the names of oil companies associated with oil fields .....

Again, this is pure wild fantasy .....

...and I'm pretty short on forgiveness nowadays.

Why should we bargain with the devil, when the S.S. Bush is sinking?

I'm not so sure we need to make a Faustian deal with Crooked Ken, at least not right away.

Let's wait and see...little Mr. Magoo might decide he's got an itch to write.....a memoir, that is.

After all, Dick Cheney is SUCH a loyal friend. Sticks with you to the end, and all that.....

j/k. Sure, when you think about it, Lay's small potatoes (get it? Lay's potato chips? I kill me) next to Cheney.

bu$h will pardon him, even if it the last thing he does.

They will keep the whole case in appeal until bu$h can sign a pardon and everyone walks.

I have no idea what the legal issues are.

And this is a fantasy post. It is really just to look at a conundrum.

the convicted (as well as others, like victims) can still affect the sentence on a conviction. The prosecution (the state) can also weigh in, taking into account other circumstances, both for or against.
I'm no expert, but I watch a lotta TV....

Horatio gave the bad guy on CSI:Miami this week. He wanted information on another bad guy. The potential informant asked him what's in it for me. Horatio said he'd try to keep him alive in jail. I could appreciate a deal but I'd like Fitzgerald to be the one to make it.

a bad dream ..... until you're facing it for real.

screw his friggin' thumbs to a table and make him sing. every friggin' one of these pieces of shit need to go down for a long time. The lives they have destroyed can't be replaced, reduced or let go. Fuck 'em ALL, let their god sort them out!

Can you please re-word your subject line. ;)

If Lay was going to do something like that it would have been before the trial.

who took the biggest blow of Ken Lay's actions... Selling his stock while all the while encouraging employees to buy and trust their stock... I don't think they would like it at all, nor would they care for a pardon from Bush....

Lay in jail. We would end up with President Hastert (until his indictment came from the JD) then it would be who? Can you say hello to PRESIDENT TED "NOOOO!" STEVENS!?!?! The mere thought makes me ill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Stevens

that included Cheney & Schwarzenegger and other energy big-wigs, he should be given a deal.

Then after he's talked, renege on the deal and keep him in jail anyway. Actually Lay shouldn't be in jail. He should be rendered penniless and impoverished and turned out to the street.

Fuck that useless parasite; he can freeze to death on a park bench for all I care.

Slum lords made to live in their buildings.

Lay to live penniless in a hovel and be spat upon on the streets.

I could go for that.

financial criminals should be prohibited from being around money. They can have a subsistence-level McJob, but no mortgage, no investments, no insurance policies, no stocks, no credit.

two for the price of one...

deliver Dick & the Chimp for a reduced sentence

was a private suit, not a government one. If I heard right - it will take other lawsuits to get indictments on all of the crimes. Please listen and share. This had nothing to do , for example, with the California atrocities.

If this keeps going, George will have to issue multiple pardons to get his buddy off.

By the way, can anyone remember what all the Republicans were outrated about when Clinton granted that Marc/k Rich pardon?

This may get more interesting. We need to keep this Enron sentence and their crimes alive. There are more ceo's and cfo's to come from other companies. We need to get all of those corporations who have met and collaborated with Cheney against the U.S. and the people of India.

He has to be punished, whether he gives up the big fish or not. It's my understanding that we have some crack interrogation teams in Iraq and Cuba now, let's introduce Kenny boy to them.

It is pretty common for individuals charged with a crime to proffer knowledge and evidence relating to another crime to the prosecuting authority, in order to negotiate an acceptable plea arrangement. It is less common for the same to be offered after a jury verdict of guilty, but it does happen occasionally -- AS A MITIGATING FACTOR FOR PURPOSES OF SENTENCING.

Ken Lay knows a lot, and the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars is surely a motivating factor to search for something that will allow him to avoid that fate.

One possibility that remains for Lay is a presidential pardon --which would not be politically possible until the eleventh hour of Bush's last day in office, if at all. Will he do three(3) years of time behind bars waiting on a pardon that may never come? I do not think so.

At this point, the only aspects of the case that are changeable are the sentencing terms. The prosecutors got what they wanted --a conviction. IMHO The only way they will help with a more lenient sentencing recommendation is Lay will have "find" some assets to turn over to all those who lost millions in the Enron fraud, AND he will have to give them substantial material evidence and information that leads directly to the prosecution of Bush and/or Cheney. There is little doubt Lay has that information and the opportunity to use it. Will he? Will he survive if he decides to go down this road, or will he have an unfortunate "accident"??