Lay Finishes Testimony in Enron Trial

Nearly the opposite transpired. Skilling battled at times with federal prosecutor Sean Berkowitz but largely kept his cool, appearing by turns professorial, impassioned and even jovial. Lay, by contrast, grumbled at his own lawyer and yelled at Hueston, appearing anything but avuncular. The government also charges Lay and Skilling with dumping tens of millions of dollars worth of their Enron stock in 2001 when they knew the company was doomed, while lying to investors and Wall Street analysts about the health of the company, saying it was fundamentally strong.

Hueston seized on the latter point in his questioning Tuesday, jumping on a slip of the tongue by Secrest, who said Lay came back to Enron to "revive" the company in August 2001.

"If you testified that the company was in the best shape ever, it couldn't possibly be in need of reviving, could it?" Hueston said, working to destroy Lay's credibility -- his strategy through all of his cross-examination.

Hueston reminded Lay that, at the beginning of 2001, Enron had predicted its stock -- which hit a high of about $80 per share -- would crack $120 per share.

"You did nothing to dispel that lofty projection when you came back on board in August, did you?" Hueston said.

"It was very naïve to think that analysts were still holding [the $120 per share figure] in their heads," Lay said.

There was a light moment in court following another slip of the tongue, this one Lay's.

During cross-examination, Hueston reminded Lay that his lead lawyer, Michael Ramsey, had publicly referred to Glisan as a "monkey."

Later, Secrest had Lay clarify that Ramsey had more fully called Glisan a "trained monkey."

"Did that make the slur any better?" Hueston asked Tuesday.

"I'm not trying to defend my monkey -- I mean, my attorney," Lay said, prompting sustained laughter in the courtroom and from Lay himself.

"I'm sure glad Mr. Ramsey's not here today," Lay said. Ramsey is recovering from two operations last month to implant stents to open arterial blockage.