Kenny Boy Lay dead

There will be no prison time for Kenneth Lay. He died. In fact, the money that he stole may very well be shielded from the courts.

Here, one reads the following:

The sudden death yesterday of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay could make him an innocent man and shield his estate from tens of millions of dollars in forfeiture claims filed by federal prosecutors, legal experts said yesterday.

Under a precedent established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in 2004, Lay's conviction may be vacated because he did not get a chance to have the appeals court review the jury's guilty finding.

"It's not like the case is merely dismissed," said Josh, Berman, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who is now in private practice in Washington, D.C., with a focus on white-collar criminal litigation and securities law. "Everything associated with the case is extinguished. It's like the defendant was never even indicted.". . .

I can't help but wonder if the guy commited suicide to protect his heirs. He might have figured that there was nothing left for him anyway, so he might have decided to save himself the embarrassment of prison and to do something to allow his family to keep the stolen money. It could have even been a murder used to keep him for giving any more damning testimony. Who knows? Heart attacks can be brought on by unnatural causes. On the other hand, the guy had been under a lot of stress. Maybe it was just his time to go.