Securities: Judge Overturns Conviction of ex-Enron Exec

A federal judge has overturned the jury conviction of Kevin Howard. Howard was a former executive in Enron Corp.'s broadband unit and was found guilty in May 2006 of five counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and falsifying books related to his role in hiding the broadband unit's weak finances.

Judge Overturns Conviction of ex-Enron Exec

The judges on the appeals court said that the convictions of the Merrill bankers had to be overturned because of the flawed use of the honest services theory, which involves the breach of honest services owed under a contract. Judge Vanessa Gilmore said that the appeals court had changed "the law on what constitutes honest services wire fraud" and also cited false jury instructions as reasons as to why one count of Howard's conviction should be overturned. Howard's co-defendant, Michael Krautz, was acquitted on the same five charges. Judge Gilmore's order does not rule out the possibility of a third trial for Howard.