Lay Wants Separate Juries for Upcoming Trials

Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay has asked for separate juries for his upcoming trials -- one for the fraud and conspiracy charges in the collapse of the energy conglomerate and the other on banking charges. According to the Associated Press, Lay's attorneys said that using the same juries would hurt his client's right to an impartial jury. Even if Lay were to be acquitted on the conspiracy and fraud charges, his defense team in a filing said, "There exists a substantial possibility that jurors will not be able to simply disregard all of that argument and evidence, and will use it -- intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or subconsciously -- to infer a propensity on the part of the defendant to commit the other offenses." A U.S district judge had suggested using the same jury for the Jan. 17 trial, which will feature Lay, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and accounting officer Richard Causey as defendants. Both Skilling and Causey were indicted on more than 30 counts, including conspiracy, fraud and insider trading. Lay was indicted in July with 11 counts lodged against him. All three have pleaded not guilty. Lay was granted a separate trial on the bank charges, which consist of one count of bank fraud and three counts of lying to banks.