HOUSTON, May 24 (UPI) -- A non-jury bank-fraud trial in Houston of former Enron Corp. chairman Kenneth L. Lay has ended.
Prosecutors said the 64-year-old Ph.D. was a sophisticated executive who seems "constitutionally incapable of accepting responsibility" for lies to three banks, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Defense lawyers countered that Lay did not have time to read the endless reams of paperwork that crossed his desk, including loan applications to buy stock in a violation of U.S. rules that Lay has admitted. Lay, however, denies intentionally breaking any rules or laws.
Meanwhile, a Houston jury in the conspiracy and fraud trial against Lay and former protégé Jeffrey K. Skilling ended a third day of deliberations by sending a note saying that they would not meet on Friday or Monday, an indication they were not close to a verdict in the four-month-old case.
