Supplemental Skilling Brief: A Powerful Salvo

Here, for our readers, is Jeff Skilling’s Supplemental Brief Regarding Andrew Fastow Interview Notes. Originally filed under seal, and now unsealed, the brief details the material withheld from Skilling and how this withholding affected Skilling’s trial defense. We breathlessly await the government’s response. Brady-Giglio claims seldom prevail on appeal. An appellant must prove, among other things, that the withheld information was material, non-cumulative, and unavailable to the defendant by other means. Nevertheless, my initial take on this issue, after coming to it late, is that Skilling has a decent chance to win. The government’s use of a composite 302, which allegedly masked Fastow’s changing stories, as well as the government’s failure to show all of its raw Fastow interview notes to the trial court, are, in my view, quite striking (troubling) factors–and highly unorthodox. Ideoblog discusses the matter further, here, as does the always informative Tom Kirkendall, in Houston’s Clear Thinkers.