Sim Lake | |
---|---|
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas | |
Assumed office July 5, 2019 | |
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas | |
In office August 12,1988 –July 5,2019 | |
Appointed by | Ronald Reagan |
Preceded by | Ross N. Sterling |
Succeeded by | Drew B. Tipton |
Personal details | |
Born | Simeon Timothy Lake III July 4,1944 Chicago,Illinois,U.S. |
Education | Texas A&M University (BA) University of Texas (JD) |
Simeon Timothy Lake III (born July 4,1944) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. His notable trials include the trial of Enron Chairman Ken Lay and former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling.
Lake was born on July 4,1944,in Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas A&M University in 1966,where he participated in the MSC Student Conference on National Affairs committee. He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law in 1969,graduating number one in his class. [1] He was in private practice of law in Houston,Texas from 1969 to 1970. He was in the United States Army from 1970 to 1971 as a Judge Advocate General's Corps prosecutor in Vietnam. He was in private practice of law in Houston from 1972 to 1988,with the law firm of Fulbright &Jaworski LLP. [2]
Lake was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on March 30,1988,to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas vacated by Judge Ross N. Sterling. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11,1988,and received commission on August 12,1988. He assumed senior status on July 5,2019. [2]
Besides the Enron cases,Lake has participated in other notable cases:
On October 23,2006,Lake sentenced Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling to the minimum possible sentence under federal guidelines,24 years,with significantly less time actually expected to be served by Skilling. Lake imposed this rather lenient sentence despite federal laws that would have allowed for a significantly longer prison sentence.
In April 2013,Judge Lake ruled [4] that videos showing cruelty to animals are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution despite laws against cruelty to animals and evidence that cruelty to animals can be a precursor to cruelty to human beings [5] [6] [7] as well as murder. [8] A petition has been launched to reverse this ruling.[ citation needed ]
Jeffrey Keith Skilling is an American businessman who in 2006 was convicted of federal felony charges relating to the Enron scandal. Skilling,who was CEO of Enron during the company's collapse,was eventually sentenced to 24 years in prison,of which he served 12 after multiple appeals.
Blakely v. Washington,542 U.S. 296 (2004),held that,in the context of mandatory sentencing guidelines under state law,the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial prohibited judges from enhancing criminal sentences based on facts other than those decided by the jury or admitted by the defendant. The landmark nature of the case was alluded to by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor,who characterized the decision as a "Number 10 earthquake".
Edith Hollan Jones is a United States circuit judge and the former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The trial of Kenneth Lay,former chairman and CEO of Enron,and Jeffrey Skilling,former CEO and COO,was presided over by federal district court Judge Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas in 2006 in response to the Enron scandal.
Melinda Sue Harmon is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas,best known as the lead judge in the subsequently overruled Arthur Andersen trial. Civil lawsuits against Enron were consolidated in her court;she oversaw class action lawsuits on behalf of both Enron shareholders and its employees.
The NatWest Three,also known as the Enron Three,are the British businessmen Giles Darby,David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew. In 2002,they were indicted in Houston,Texas,on seven counts of wire fraud against their former employer,Greenwich NatWest,as part of the Enron scandal.
Vanessa Diane Gilmore is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She was appointed to this position by President Bill Clinton in 1994. At that time,she was the youngest sitting federal judge in the United States. She was also the first graduate of the University of Houston to be appointed to the federal bench.
Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman who was the founder,chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in Enron's accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date. Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud at trial. Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen,Colorado,three months before his scheduled sentencing. A preliminary autopsy reported Lay died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. His death resulted in a vacated judgment. Conspiracy theories regarding Lay's death surfaced,alleging that it was faked.
Fortunato Pedro Benavides was an American judge. From 1994 until 2023,he served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
David Brookman "Brooks" Smith is a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was previously Chief Judge of both the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania,and is the only judge in the history of the Third Circuit to have served as both a chief district judge and chief of the Court of Appeals.
William Wayne Justice was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Michael Roland Murphy is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Jennifer Walker Elrod is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She previously served as a state court judge on the 190th District Court of Texas from 2002 to 2007.
Joe McDonald Ingraham was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He is best known as being the judge who sentenced the then World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali to the maximum 5-year sentence available for refusing to fight in the unpopular Vietnam War.
David Hittner is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He also has served by temporary assignment on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the District of Arizona. His tenure as a federal judge began in 1986,when he was nominated for the lifetime position by President Ronald Reagan and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench in 1986,Hittner served from 1978 to 1986 as the elected judge of the 133rd Judicial District Court of Harris County,Texas,based in Houston.
Kenneth Michael Hoyt is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
John Virgil Singleton Jr. was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Barry Lynn Winmill is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho.
Ewing Werlein Jr. is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Drew Barnett Tipton is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
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