Enron victims get say at Skilling re-sentencing

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake set a May 29 deadline for Enron victims to state in writing if they want to be heard in court that day and to accept written comments from victims who do not wish to speak in court. Lake also ordered the government to take out newspaper ads to explain this to victims, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday in its online edition.

Skilling, who is serving a 24-year term at a prison in suburban Denver, was tried in 2006. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that a resentencing hearing should be held because it said Lake improperly applied a sentencing guideline that resulted in a longer prison term.

He was convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors involving the collapse of Enron, once the nation's seventh-largest company.

Skilling had argued his convictions were invalid because of what his lawyers said were incorrect legal theory, faulty jury instructions, a biased jury and prosecutorial misconduct, including accusations of witness intimidation and withholding evidence. Skilling hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his case.