Give Credit to Jury in Andersen Trial

Re “Andersen Found Guilty of Obstruction,” June 16: I was appalled at the statement made by Houston attorney David Berg that “if you can’t win a conviction in an hour in Harris County, Texas, where Andersen and Enron teamed up to hurt a lot of people, you’ve got problems.” This attitude is antiquated in a society packed with civil rights and appeals laws and is disparaging to the members of the jury, who tried to be fair and unbiased in their service. As shown in a related article, “Deliberations Came Down to a Single Memo,” the Andersen jury took great pains to sort out the plethora of evidence in the trial.

Obviously, the 12 men and women approached their civic duties with open minds and labored extensively to reach a unanimous verdict. Kudos to these jurors, who decided not to be ruled by their emotions but instead looked at the evidence in an unbiased manner. Would that all prospective jurors (myself included) commit to that level of dedication when called upon to perform their civic duties.

Sherri Koch

Orange

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Re “Paper Trail Points to Roots of Energy Crisis,” June 16:

Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Former presidential hopeful Ross “Let’s Look Under the Hood” Perot’s company was selling the programs to engage in “gaming” California’s electrical supply. (He’s now unavailable for comment.) The boys down at Arthur Andersen were shredding evidence in the investigation into Enron’s collapse. At the same time, the boys down on Wall Street were advising their clients to buy (when they and their well-heeled power brokers were selling).

Now the boys down at the Pentagon want to seal further testing on the missile defense program from public scrutiny (“Missile Data to Be Kept Secret,” June 9). We have more than an energy crisis on our hands. We are being forced to play games that really aren’t that much fun.

Dave Gunall

Ventura