Any lawyers here who can answer why Enron crooks

Lay and Skilling aren't getting sentenced for three and a half months? Is this the usual practice? I thought convicted crooks went straight to jail. Inquiring minds want to know...:wtf:

If I robbed someone, could be out on bail before the trial. Once I was tried and convicted, off to jail to file appeals. So why not these guys?

for white collar criminals.

They aren't violent. They aren't going to hurt anyone. They get some time, perhaps, to take care of their affairs especially since they very well may never get to get out of wherever it is they are going.

Doesn't make sense to put them in high security prisons either, since that is costly.

Just a guess.

labor. However, he was arrested under the Czar.

90 days is pretty normal. The feds put together their sentencing recommendations which are based upon a calculation using the sentencing guidelines and the monetary value of the fraud in question. Usually the report is about 50 or so pages long and details everything. In this case, it will most likely be much longer and more complicated. It's a ton of work. Then they have to provide it to the defense who must be given ample opportunity to try to rebut it and then the feds get the final rebuttal and a judge sentences. Even after sentencing, typically the defendent has another 30 days left of freedom before having to report to prison.


It's completely standard in federal cases.

Seems like it would be more "fair" if they waited for their sentencing from a jail cell, but hey wouldn't want to push Lay's beatific, "I'm so blessed!" mantra...

so far they have been convicted, but not sentenced.

Do you mean this is standard in all federal cases? So all I'd have to do is be tried in fed court rather than state/county? That is a serious question, not that I'm being tried for anything, but just trying to understand. Thank you for your answer.

The only exceptions are when the defendent is judged a flight risk, or there is violance associated with the crime.

not to say that someone with brazilions of dollars in a swiss bank account and facing the rest oftheir life in jail would skip.

Even with a big bundle of cash it isnt easy to stay hidden anymore. In some respects the cash would make it harder. These guys couldn't suvive like Bin Ladin in a cave somewhere. They are high maintenance. That leaves a trail. They're fucked and justly so.

the applicable law in this case. Judges have a lot of discretion, too, but if they've filed notice of appeal, that would be a factor. They've surrendered their passports, and they're convicted. There are a lot of pre-sentencing matters that have to be done by the court, and they're very time-consuming, especially in a case like this.

Hope that helps.

To book a hotel room in the Cayman Islands this time of year.

it would actually be harder for them to appeal, since Skilling wasn't convicted on all counts. He said it showed the jury did some careful deliberation on each of the charges, as opposed to blanket condemnation. Any thoughts on that?

Appeals aren't based on looking at the evidence again and determining if the jury got it right. Appeals are procedural.

That's why I thought I'd ask all you lawyers what your take was on this.:-)
(And here I was thinking the jury was being wily.)

Is that the jury failed to deliberate on the evidence (e.g., convict quickly on all counts even though varying degrees of evidence). That would also be ground for a post-trial motion for j.n.o.v.

I don't know if such a post-trial motion has already been filed and denied, but I'll breathe a bit easier once it has, and once we see what kind of b.s. grounds for appeal the defense comes up with.

Bake

Not a one.

I'm glad the trial is over, and now, frankly, let them rot wherever they are. The people have spoken.

The rest of their lives will be shame and hell, and that's good enough for me.

Once Kenny Boy's $900K/yr. annuity kicks in, he won't feel a whole lot of shame. Heel, he still claims he's innocent and blessed. Frankly, being the poster boy for corporate crime hasn't bothered him too much so far. He needs to do time. sKilling too.

Bake

I seriously doubt it. He's gonna lose everything, I suspect.

The civil suits haven't kicked in yet, and that's gonna be where the REAL theater will show. All that money, all that spending, all those stock dumps............

Ah, they're gonna do time, don't you fret. That's my solid bet.

most are predicting between 20 and 30 years for him, split it and call it 25. There is no parole in the federeal system and no early release. He'll get 2 months off for every 12 served (assuming he has no problems ni prison). He'll server over 20 years in prison and isn't exactly a spring chicken. Considering the lousy food, lousy health care provided, labor required of all inmates and his lack of will due to being beaten down for 20 years it is highly unlikely he will get out of prison alive. And if he does, good luck enjoying the money tha his wife and family don't spend at an advanced age and with 20 years of prison under his belt (that destroys a person).

The idea that you can appeal because a jury didn't fully deliberate your case is bunk.

A common guy would have been sent to serve immediately, if prison was certain in the sentence to come. Most get put back in county jails until sentencing and then go to penitentiaries afterwards.

The federal system doesnt care about big money. No matter how many people for some bizarre reason want to believe the wealthy skate the facts are different. State cases like OJ and Jackson are very differnt than federal cases where congressmen, sports figures, wealthy CEOs do siginifcant prison time

that rich folks can. If you set a bail at 500 grand , who can afford that other than the wealthy?

Thats why the rich are favored in the system. They also get favor because they can afford the best lawyers.

Kenny Boy was convicted on all charges. Skilling was convicted on quite a few of the ones he was up on.

You get a guy who did two or three felonies, and if you're a very fine lawyer you can get him off. You get a guy like Ken Lay, who I really feel committed felonies just for the hell of it, and no lawyer can get him off.