Ken Lay's suspiciously timed death will save his ass not only from a daily pounding by Brutus in jail, but it will also shield his stolen millions from the hands of justice. Several morning papers, including
Time explain: Legally, his case died with him. By law, Lay had a constitutional right to participate in his criminal appeal. And since he's no longer alive to help his attorneys prepare, the case will be "extinguished" -- as if it never happened, explains Houston attorney Joel Androphy, author of the textbook White Collar Crime. "It's as if he was never charged and convicted," says Androphy. "This is the law. There may have been a moral victory for the government, but there's no longer a legal victory."
As Kenny Boy's victims, including his employees and investors, now wallow in financial ruin, his heirs can
revel in the riches of Kenny's robberies: For Lay's estate, and his widow Linda, the positive implication of this grim day is that the government now has no means to collect on its forfeiture claim against Lay for $43.5 million. It's hard to believe, but the case law on this point is crystal clear, says Peter Henning, professor at Wayne State University Law School. "The idea is that you can't punish a dead person. It's not fair," says Henning. "Lay didn't get a chance to go in front of a court of appeals, which he had an absolute legal right to do."
(Note to Republican Congress: Hurry up and eliminate the "Death Tax." We wouldn't want Kenny Boy's poor family to have to pay taxes on the $2M condo and the other untold millions in Lay's loot.)
Lay's death complicates the cases of victims seeking restitution. Federal prosecutors must now drop their $43M claim against him, and Lay's victims must seek justice in civil trials. Since Lay has now died an innocent man, all verdicts against him erased, the claimants in civil trials have lost an evidentiary advantage, and may have a more difficult time proving their case. The NYT reports that the civil claimants are unlikely to go after Lay's estate anyway:
Lawyers involved in the civil lawsuits, however, have already signaled that they were more interested in seeking compensation from institutions with deeper pockets that may have profited from improper dealings with Enron, like Wall Street investment banks, rather than focusing on Mr. Lay.
The bottom line: Kenny Boy's death allows him to escape dying as Brutus' whore and allows his heirs to spend the rest of their days in the luxury of his loot. Ah, gotta love American-style "justice" for the wealthy.
Let the conspiracy theories begin... (Autopsy reports are apparently forthcoming; how much would it cost to buy a medical examiner in Aspen...?)