Speaking to a packed courtroom, defense lawyers for Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling made their final arguments to the jury on Tuesday, telling the eight women and four men that the prosecution had “rewritten history” to make its case and failed to prove the two former chiefs had committed any crimes.

Skilling lawyer Daniel Petrocelli was first to speak, calling Skilling a “tortured soul” but completely innocent of the 28 counts of conspiracy, fraud and insider trading charges against him. Petrocelli, at times speaking softly but more often dramatic and loud, spent three hours alternately scorning and questioning the prosecution’s case against his client. Skilling, 52, is charged with 28 counts of conspiracy, fraud and insider trading. If convicted, Skilling could face several decades in prison.

“Look into his eyes,” Petrocelli said of Skilling. “Look into his soul. See if you see a criminal. See if you see a man with criminal intent.”

The California lawyer blasted the prosecutors for their case and, while not suggesting misconduct, suggested they had relied on fiction and not facts.

“You can say fraud to your heart’s content,” Petrocelli said. “No matter how many times you say fraud, it does not make it true. There have to be facts, folks… There’s been a lot of rewriting of history over the last few years, and we saw a lot of rewriting in this courtroom.”

Petrocelli also blasted Enron’s ex-CFO Andrew Fastow, who is cooperating with the government after admitting he committed fraud at the company. Going back to a defense theme throughout the case, Petrocelli attempted to portray Fastow as the mastermind of Enron’s financial schemes who swindled the company of millions without Skilling or Lay knowing anything about it.

“He’s a tortured soul now for the rest of his life,” Petrocelli said of Skilling. “That’s his legacy; he can’t do anything about it. He deserves to go home with the rest of us when this case is over.”

As he finished, Petrocelli hammered at the idea of reasonable doubt. “If you hesitate, there’s reasonable doubt… Do you think [Skilling] is a crook without hesitation? Do you have any hesitation at all about him? If you do, he must be acquitted. Don’t compromise in there. Don’t negotiate with his life. Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, 28 times.”

In the afternoon, Lay’s lawyers took over for three hours. Bruce Collins also called on jurors to question the government’s case, contending that much of what the government claims to have happened was actually made up in the “fertile mind” of Fastow. Lay is charged with six counts of fraud and conspiracy, which the government claims he committed between August 2001 and December 2001, when Enron declared bankruptcy.

“The government wants you to think this is a case of ‘he said, she said.’ I’m here to tell you that it is not,” Collins said. He reminded the jury that the government never called an accountant to testify to prove its case that there was financial fraud within the company.

“Who did they bring in to be an expert on accounting? Andy Fastow,” Collins said sarcastically. The Enron Task Force never showed the jury documents or “credible witnesses,” he said. “In fact, the documents prove otherwise,” and he said the government wanted the jury to ignore the evidence.

“When did bankruptcy become a crime?” Collins asked. “When did failure become criminal? In our free market system, companies that take risks are rewarded.” Success can quickly be taken away by market forces, but he emphasized failure does not mean there was fraud.

Collins tried to convince the jurors that Lay could not have broken any laws. And he asked that they not confuse the criminal trial with a civil case by investors seeking to recover millions that were lost when Enron collapsed.

“Today you decide whether Ken Lay is locked in a cage for the rest of his life,” Collins said. “Today you decide whether Ken Lay is a criminal. Today you decide whether he committed any crimes.”

Lay lawyer George Secrest continued to slam the government, claiming it was trying to obtain a conviction “at any cost.” He acknowledged that some on the jury had “preconceived ideas” about the men’s guilt. But he reminded the panel that even if they had formed opinions about Enron before the trial, they had to “keep those preconceived ideas out of your head” when deliberations begin.

“I don’t blame you,” he said to the jury of what it may think about Lay and Skilling. “You’ve been inundated with news accounts. But now you are in court. Your verdict will be based upon the facts.”

On Wednesday, the prosecution will have three more hours to rebut the defense team’s closing, and the case then will go to the jury. On Thursday, presiding U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, without a jury present, will begin hearing a separate case against Lay, in which he is charged with four fraud charges related to his personal banking.

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