tough white collar trials

the supreme court unanimously threw out the conviction of shredder extraordinaire arthur anderson. justice rehnquist cited vague jury instructions as the basis, but further sets a disturbing precedent that file shredding isn't necessarily a no-no:

Legal experts said the ruling...will shield former partners at Andersen from possible future litigation. Corporations that have document-retention policies also will have more freedom to destroy documents without fear of potential prosecution.

while the prosecutor in the case is weighing the options, this continues the trend of difficulty in white-collar crimes cases including the richard scrushy and tyco exec re-trials.

update (06/01): i'm particularly troubled that the fallout of this decision could be more of the 'ignorance is bliss' defense. a ny times article [bugmenot login] counters the notion of the ruling as pure vindication of guilt (check out this headline), instead more the result of a technicality/legality.