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Is Changing Venue Because of Pretrial Publicity a Dated Concept?

By Eric Lipman

Lest you think we here at Legal Blog Watch were not aware that today is Skilling Day at the Supreme Court, here's part of the story that makes for a layperson-friendly discussion over a round of Siberian Donkeys (it's a drink, I swear). If you're looking for an in-depth description of the vagueness issue as regards the honest services fraud statute, read Lyle Denniston's piece from SCOTUSblog. And good luck finding non-law geeks who want to talk to you about that topic. Instead, as did The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal over the weekend (and as already noted by the WSJ Law Blog), if you want to get your "regular" friends involved, try focusing on the change of venue issue. Skilling's appeal is based in part on the notion that there was no way he could have gotten a fair trial in Houston, Enron's headquarters and arguably the city most devastated as a result of the fraud perpetrated by the "Smartest Guys in the Room." Is there anyplace in the country, though, where, by the time of Skilling's trial, it would have been possible to empanel a jury of 12 citizens completely unfamiliar with the Enron scandal?...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on March 01, 2010 (boomark / email).