Prosecutors seek June trial for Kenneth Lay News
Prosecutors seek June trial for Kenneth Lay

[JURIST] Federal prosecutors argued Monday that it would be in the public interest for former Enron [corporate website; JURIST news archive] CEO Kenneth Lay [Wikipedia profile; Lay defense website] to face trial this summer – no later than June – on bank fraud charges. The government cited Lay's repeated assurances that he is prepared to stand trial and hopes for a speedy resolution to his legal fight. Despite his earlier public requests for a trial separate from others charged in the Enron scandal, Lay has since proposed that his bank fraud trial take place two months after the conclusion of the larger conspiracy and fraud trial of Lay and his Enron co-defendants. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.