Enron Prosecutors Cleared of Intimidation

Lawyers for former Enron Corp. executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling failed to prove that government prosecutors intimidated potential defense witnesses to keep them from testifying, a judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake made his ruling in Houston.

Lay, Enron’s former chairman; Skilling, its former chief executive; and Richard A. Causey, a former chief accountant, are to go on trial Jan. 17 on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the 2001 collapse of Enron.