(no subject)

[ebonlock]

Gah. Ok, so I posited yesterday that it seemed awfully damned convenient that Ken Lay should just happen to keel over after a massive heart attack just out of the blue. Turns out even I didn't know how convenient his death really was:

Under the Fifth Circuit's law of abatement of a criminal conviction when a defendant dies before appellate review of the conviction, "It is well established in this circuit that the death of a criminal defendant pending an appeal of his or her case abates, ab initio, the entire criminal proceeding."
[...]
"the appeal does not just disappear, and the case is not merely dismissed. Instead, everything associated with the case is extinguished, leaving the defendant as if he had never been indicted or convicted." In Parsons, the court vacated a forfeiture order, which means that the government's forfeiture claim against Lay for $43.5 million (see earlier post here) will be dismissed.
[...]
Unlike the criminal case, civil claims against Lay, such as the SEC's case and the securities class action, will continue against his estate. However, because the criminal conviction is wiped out, the plaintiffs cannot rely on it as proof in their case, if my dim memory of collateral estoppel serves me right.

Ok now I'm convinced he offed himself.

Comments

[chaos-rose.livejournal.com]

I was thinking that men with the money of Ken Lay know what their medical condition is. I think he knew, and I think he did nothing - suicide, in a way. However, his life insurance pay-out because he died a natural death instead of in an accident cannot be attached, even if the premiums were paid with ill-gotten gains. The law was enacted to protect the family of the deceased so that they did not end up destitute, to a certain extent it also protects a family dwelling, and I think it also protects any trusts established for minor children and a widow.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I was reminded of nothing so much as the old Roman custom of allowing the patriarch of a family to take his own life in order to erase debt and dishonor.

[chrisber.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what crossed my mind, too. Or the stiff upper lip "do the honorable thing". Though I think that was generally done before trial and publicity.

[chaos-rose.livejournal.com]

*nods* Very much in that tradition, I think.