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Fifth Circuit denies Enron ex-CEO petition for rehearing

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Thursday a petition for an en banc rehearing by convicted former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling. Skilling's petition followed a ruling last month by a three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit that upheld his previous convictions and ordered him to be resentenced due to error in the lower court. The court denied the petition for rehearing without comment. Skilling's laywer Daniel Petrocelli said that he plans to appeal to the US Supreme Court. Skilling's appeal was based on a previous Fifth Circuit ruling that overturned convictions for other Enron executives based on "honest services theft" because they had acted in Enron's best interest by direction and did not profit from their actions. The panel ruled last month that Skilling's case differed from these previous rulings because "no one at Enron sanctioned Skilling's improper conduct" and because Skilling's compensation structure was aligned with Enron's earnings. In 2006, Skilling was convicted of 19 counts of conspiracy, insider trading, and securities fraud and is currently serving a 24-year sentence. Skilling initially appealed his conviction in September 2007 claiming prosecutorial and judicial errors.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 13, 2009 (boomark / email).