Judge rules Enron bosses trial to stay in Houston

HOUSTON, TEXAS - The upcoming trial of former Enron Corp. chiefs Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling will stay in the company's hometown despite their pleas for a new venue, according to a recent federal judge's ruling.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake was the second time he had denied defense requests to move the trial out of Houston citing heavy publicity and lingering anger for the 2001 collapse of the company that had once been the seventh largest in the nation.

Former Chairman Lay and former Chief Executive Skilling are set to go on trial Monday on conspiracy and fraud charges alleging they hid the former energy trading company's dire conditions before it plunged into bankruptcy in December 2001. Skilling also faces insider trading charges.

Lawyers for Lay and Skilling had argued that 80 percent of the potential jurors harbored negative opinions about the two men, and that publicity surrounding the plea deal of a co-defendant had further hurt their chances to get a fair trial.

In his ruling, Judge Lake wrote that written questionnaires and the court's questioning of jurors in person would "provide adequate safeguards" than an impartial jury would be selected.

Former Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey, who was charged under the same indictment as his former bosses, struck a plea deal with government prosecutors last month that will send him to prison for seven years and is expected to see him testify against Lay and Skilling.

Lay is facing seven charges in the trial that is expected to last more than four months and Skilling is facing more than 30 charges.