The trial for former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay, CEO Jeffrey Skilling and ex-chief accountant Richard Causey could begin as early as June and even coincide with another trial where five former executives of the bankrupt company’s broadband division will stand accused.

In Houston on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake asked the lawyers in the case against Lay, Skilling and Causey to report their schedules for June through September. Apparently, a June date is favored for two reasons: one of Causey’s chief attorneys has another trial scheduled for August, and Lay has requested that the trial be held as soon as possible.

Causey, however, has requested a 2006 court date, and Skilling wants the trial to be set at the earliest in September. Prosecutors are said to want a September trial to ensure they are ready.

Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling’s lead attorney, told Lake on Wednesday, “Assuming there are no more charges and documents” and he receives “favorable evidence” from prosecutors, “we could live with September.”

Prosecutors and the defense teams are scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 24 for a conference to schedule the trial date and pretrial motions.

Lake, who will try the Lay, Skilling and Causey case, presides in a courtroom next door to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore. She has scheduled April 1 as the first day of a trial for five former broadband division executives who are accused of fraud. The Enron broadband trial is expected to take three months, but Gilmore could push back her trial by two weeks or more, however, to allow a capital murder case to proceed. If that happens, both Enron trials could overlap.

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