A federal judge Tuesday vacated the conviction of Enron’s late founder Kenneth Lay, wiping out a jury’s verdict that he committed fraud and conspiracy in one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history.

Lay was convicted of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks in two separate cases on May 25. Enron’s collapse in 2001 wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.

Lay died of heart disease July 5 while vacationing with his wife, Linda, in Aspen, Colo.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, in a ruling Tuesday, agreed with Lay’s lawyers that his death required that his conviction be erased and his indictment dismissed. They cited a 2004 ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found that a defendant’s death pending appeal extinguished his entire case because he hadn’t had a full opportunity to challenge the conviction and the government shouldn’t be able to punish a dead defendant or his estate.

This man ruined a shitload of lives and scammed millions of customers (myself included) with fake energy crises. And he gets let off the hook because he’s dead??

I’m sorry, but this is one of those times when I’m calling “color.” They only do shit like this for white folks. If a black man had done something as sweepingly horrific as Ken Lay, something that impacted as many lives as his crimes did, not only would he take his criminal convictions to the grave, the courts would probably try to find a way to have his offspring inherit them, too.

What the rasclaat? Straight foolishness.

Chicago Tribune: Judge Vacates Conviction of Ken Lay
Previously: The Lo Zone: Isn’t It Ironic?