[JURIST] US District Court Judge Sim Lake on Tuesday granted a request [JURIST report] by a lawyer for former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay [Houston Chronicle profile; JURIST news archive] to supplant Lay's name in court records with Lay's estate. As probate law permits a legal representative of an estate to appear on behalf of the estate, the lawyer, Samuel Buffone, is now expected to move to have Lay's criminal record expunged.

Lay died [JURIST report] before his sentencing date and therefore was not afforded an opportunity to exhaust the appeals process, and no final judgment has been issued in the case. Without a final judgment entered against Lay, the court is expected to dismiss the indictment and the conviction because Lay's death renders the case moot. Last week, federal prosecutors requested [JURIST report] that Lay co-defendant and former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profile] be ordered to pay $182.2 million that prosecutors allege was obtained through securities fraud. The Houston Chronicle has more.