LAT: Surprise of Enron Trial Is Lay's Surly Manner

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Surprise of Enron Trial Is Lay's Surly Manner
Known for charm, the ex-chairman may have damaged his case with sarcasm and snippiness.
By Thomas S. Mulligan, Times Staff Writer
April 28, 2006

HOUSTON — Who would have guessed that Kenny Boy could be a tougher sell to a jury than Capt. Queeg (AKA Jeffrey Skilling)?

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth L. Lay — Kenny Boy to his friend President Bush — is renowned for his courtliness, his philanthropy, his rise from a dirt-poor boyhood in the Missouri Ozarks to a nine-digit fortune.... Although nobody knows what the 12 Texans in the jury box are thinking, during his first four days on the stand, Lay, 64, has shown some attributes that clash with his reputation as affable, openhanded and shrewd.

His worst moment came Wednesday, when prosecutor John C. Hueston jolted Lay with questions about his attempts to reach actual or potential witnesses in the case — efforts that persisted even after Lay's lawyers told him to stop.

"You've got to question the judgment of the person," said Mark C. Zauderer of New York law firm Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer. "No lawyer would have his client in the dock calling potential witnesses. It could be very suspect in the minds of the jury."

Lay probably didn't help matters by responding to Hueston's blitz with sarcasm. The jury of eight women and four men has hardly been immune to humor during the trial — even Skilling's mordant wit sometimes connected — but nobody cracked a smile at Lay's comebacks Wednesday....

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-enron28apr28,0,6594953.story?coll=la-home-business