Appeals court schedules hearing in Wittig case
1:21 p.m. Wednesday, September 3, 2008
A federal appeals court plans to hear arguments in November on an appeal in the case of two former Westar Energy executives.
It's another sign that their third criminal trial will be delayed.
David Wittig, former CEO of Westar
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver Tuesday night granted a prosecution motion to speed up its consideration of the appeal. The court said it will schedule a hearing for oral arguments in the week of November 17 through 21.
Former Westar CEO David Wittig and former Chief Strategy Officer Douglas Lake are charged with conspiracy and circumventing of internal controls as part of an alleged plan to loot the Topeka-based utility.
Their first trial in 2004 ended in mistrial and the appeals court last year threw out their convictions from a 2005 second trial, allowing the less serious crimes to be retried.
Douglas Lake, former vice president of Westar, was convicted of 30 counts of looting.
Wittig and Lake are appealing U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson's Aug. 1 decision not to dismiss the conspiracy charge and a forfeiture charge. The men say a retrial on those counts would violate the Constitution's prohibition of double jeopardy.
Their third trial was scheduled to begin next Tuesday, but Robinson has said she wants to give the appeals court time to decide the appeal.
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