Enron Trial to Begin

Jan. 29, 2006— -- Tomorrow, a jury will be asked to decide if Enron's leaders intentionally lied about the financial health of the Energy trading company so they could dump the company stock before it went bankrupt.

For former Enron officers Jeff Skilling, who sold $200 million in stock, and Ken Lay, who sold $300 million, the stakes could not be higher.

"If I am found guilty of these counts, I can be sentenced up to 175 years in prison," said former CEO Lay.

When Enron employees were given just a half an hour to clean out their desks in December 2001, more than $1 billion in pensions had evaporated and 11,000 people eventually lost their jobs.

"I hope they lock them up for quite a while and keep them there," said Dale Roberts, a former Enron employee who lost his life savings of $50,000 and had to turn to a local church for food.

Charles Prestwood lost $1.3 million from his retirement after his former employer went under.

"At my age, see I was retired when the implosion at Enron happened, there is no way I can remake that money," he said. "My life, it's turned 180 degrees from where it was when I retired."

He said he was advised to leave his money in the company stock because prices would eventually come back up.

Like Roberts, Prestwood would like to see Lay and Skilling harshly punished.

"I want justice to be served and that justice would be going to jail -- a long time 20 or 30 years at least," he said.

This seems to be the prevailing sentiment in the Houston area where Enron was based and where the trial is taking place. Many legal experts question whether a Houston jury can keep an open mind during the trial.

These guys have been made demons now for four years. Are we going to find 12 people and four alternates who were not subject to that," asked attorney Rusty Hardin.

While the court of public opinion may already have convicted Enron's leaders, the government's task force has a mixed record. One problem for prosecutors is that this case is all about aggressive and complicated accounting practices. The defense team has spent $30 million preparing for this trial, which is expected to last four months.

"I think the legacy of the prosecutors will be a disaster if they were to lose this case," said Phillip Hilder, a former federal prosecutor.