HOUSTON — Former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew Fastow's legal team says potential jurors in the company's hometown of Houston are so predisposed about his case that he can only get a fair trial outside of Texas.
But U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt — who did not immediately rule on whether to move next year's trial — noted at a hearing Tuesday it may be tough to find an area comparable to the 13-county area from which jurors would be chosen for a Houston case.
"If we move this case to another district, you change the flavor of the jury mix," Hoyt said.
John W. Keker, Fastow's lead lawyer, said surveys conducted last summer by a San Diego State University professor show more than half of 500 people polled in each of the Houston, Austin and New Orleans areas said they knew about Fastow's case and believed him to be guilty.
Fastow, who will turn 42 on Monday, is charged with 98 counts of fraud, money laundering, insider trading and other charges for allegedly masterminding moves that hid Enron's debt, inflated profits and allowed him to skim millions of dollars for himself, his family and selected friends and colleagues. He has pleaded innocent and is free on $5 million bond.
Enron collapsed two years ago as those and other alleged schemes came to light. Thousands of workers lost their jobs and investors were left with worthless stock that once traded at $90.
Keker said the scandal has generated massive publicity, much of which has focused on Fastow, the most high-profile of more than two dozen former Enron executives facing criminal charges.
Potential jurors will swear they can be fair and impartial, "but in this district, the pressure on the jurors is going to be enormous," Keker said. Some biased potential jurors may want to be selected so they can vote to convict no matter what the evidence shows, he said.
"The risk is that people get through," he said.
But prosecutor Linda Lacewell countered that detailed jury questionnaires filled out by potential jurors before they are summoned for questioning can weed out bias, and publicity about the case isn't enough to warrant a move. Fastow is entitled to a fair but not an ignorant jury, she said.
"If that were true, no high-profile case could ever be tried where the crime occurred," she said.
She added that if the trial is moved, publicity about Fastow would explode in the receiving city. "It's going to be new news as opposed to older news over here," she said.
In a separate issue, Hoyt said he will hear arguments next month on Keker's request to postpone Fastow's April 20 trial. Keker said Tuesday the defense will want to postpone the trial whether or not it is moved outside of Houston because of the ever-increasing volume of documents attorneys must examine to sufficiently prepare.
Keker noted the request for a postponement isn't related to a trial conflict. Keker represented Silicon Valley banker Frank Quattrone in an obstruction of justice trial that ended in a mistrial in October. A second trial for Quattrone has been scheduled for March 22.