HOUSTON — The chief defense lawyer for former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth L. Lay signaled in court Thursday that he might call a witness who could contradict a key assertion by the government's lead-off witness in the federal fraud and conspiracy trial.
Michael W. Ramsey opened his cross-examination of former Enron investor relations head Mark E. Koenig by asking whether Koenig had told a close friend and former co-worker just two months ago that he was innocent of the charges he had pleaded guilty to in August 2004.
Koenig, 50, immediately denied having said it.
Enron trial -- An article in Friday's Business section about the trial of two former Enron Corp. executives said attorney Daniel M. Petrocelli wore Chocolat cologne, based on his own account. Petrocelli, who is representing former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling, said Monday that he was mistaken and that the cologne was Tabac.
Ramsey bored in, naming the woman and asking, "So if she says that, in this courtroom, she'll be perjuring herself?"
"I believe that's right," Koenig replied.
The exchange was significant because one of the defense's main points in the trial of Lay, 63, and former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling, 52, is that many of the 16 people who already have pleaded guilty in connection with Enron's collapse are actually innocent.
They were strong-armed by the government into cooperating with its investigation, the defense has argued, because they feared long prison terms and lacked the money to fight the charges. Evidence that Koenig's plea was insincere could undermine the credibility of his testimony regarding Lay and Skilling's alleged crimes.
Koenig, who completed his sixth day on the stand and his fourth day of intense cross-examination, has testified repeatedly that he pleaded guilty because he knew he had made false or misleading public statements about Enron's financial health in the months leading up to the energy-trading company's December 2001 bankruptcy filing.
The name of Koenig's friend does not appear on the defense's most recent witness list, but co-prosecutor Sean M. Berkowitz, head of the federal Enron Task Force, said during a break in the trial, "I'm sure she'll be there" on the list soon.
Skilling's lead defense lawyer, Daniel M. Petrocelli, said in a brief interview that he had not heard of the woman until Ramsey mentioned her.
Legal experts said Ramsey's ploy raised strategic and possibly ethical issues.
"He's put this witness in play; now, he has to call her," said Robert R. Rigg, director of Drake University's Criminal Defense Program. "If he doesn't call her, the government can say at closing, 'Where's the witness they promised?' "
