Back in September, I did a blog entry looking at Jeff Skilling's attempts to get either a retrial or acquittal.

He has again asked to be free on bond while his case is appealed and you can read the second written part of Skilling's appeal of his conviction on 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors right here.

. The 161 page document lays down a number of challenges in a number of areas, including the so-called "ostrich instruction" where jurors were told to consider whether Ken Lay and Skilling, who was sentenced in October 2006 to more than 24 years in prison for his role in the collapse of Enron, deliberately avoided learning about any crimes at the company. Skilling's lawyers say that instruction was "inexcusable".

"If Jeffrey Skilling is to be held accountable for what happened at Enron, if he is to become the poster child for corporate fraud in this country, then give him a fair trial. A trial based on recognized theories of criminal law. A trial in a disinterested community, in front of a dispassionate judge and impartial jury. A trial where witnesses are not afraid to appear and give testimony. A trial where the jury is given all the right law. A trial where justice can be done. He asks for no more. Every one of Mr Skilling's convictions must be overturned."

The critical part to remember here is that last year, the court threw out most of the convictions in an Enron-related case involving four ex-Merrill Lynch executives charged with helping push through Enron's sham sale of three power barges in order to boost the company's earnings. At the time, the three-judge panel said panel said the executives were doing what Enron wanted them to do, did not profit at its expense and, as a result, did not deprive Enron of "honest services."

The document argues that Skilling was acting in the best interests of the company which means the "honest services" allegations have no place. "Where the employee's conduct is designed to further the employer's stated interests, even a fiduciary breach or other wrongful act committed in furtherance of that design does not constitute the crime of honest-services fraud," the document says.

"They are going to ride the 'honest services' horse as far as they can," Wayne State University Law School professor Peter Henning told the Houston Chronicle.