The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in the third of a series of challenges to the “honest services” fraud statute, this time in the context of the prosecution of former Enron Corp. executive Jeffrey Skilling. But most of the justices’ attention focused instead on the other major issue in Skilling’s case: whether the local jury pool in Houston was so poisoned by rage against Enron that it was impossible to pick an impartial jury — even when potential jurors said they could be fair.
Although several justices voiced concern about the impartiality of certain jurors in the 2006 trial, others seemed equally worried about second-guessing trial judges who have long been entrusted with screening out biased jurors during voir dire.
