HOUSTON (AP) – Witnesses who testified against former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling were “robbed of their free will” by prosecutors, Skilling’s defense attorney said Tuesday, suggesting they were eager to tell the government what it wanted to hear.

Daniel Petrocelli, delivering an impassioned closing argument in the fraud and conspiracy trial of Skilling and Enron founder Kenneth Lay, also denied again that the men perpetuated an overarching fraud at the company.

Defense lawyers have suggested throughout the trial that most of the eight former Enron executives who struck plea deals with federal prosecutors admitted to crimes they did not commit, partly in hopes of avoiding expensive legal battles or lengthy prison terms.

“They know what needs to be said to make this work, get through it, get out of that courtroom and get home and move on with their lives,” Petrocelli told the jury of eight women and four men.

Speaking softly, Petrocelli told the jurors he was somewhat nervous because he had had “Jeff’s life in my hands” for two years and would soon turn it over to the jury, which is expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday.

“Look into his eyes. Look into his soul. See if you see a criminal. See if you see a man with criminal intent,” Petrocelli said of his client.

The defense lawyer also suggested prosecutors had rewritten history in the courtroom: “You can say fraud to your heart’s content. No matter how many times you say fraud, it does not make it true. There have to be facts, folks.”

Defense lawyers for Lay were to present their closing argument later Tuesday.

On Monday, a prosecutor told jurors Lay had embodied the view that he and Skilling were immune to rules that govern others during his contentious testimony.

Prosecutor Kathryn Ruemmler on Monday displayed for jurors what she called a telling quote from Lay: “Rules are important, but they should not … you should not be a slave to the rules either.”

She said neither were slaves to rules as they committed crimes “through accounting tricks, fiction, hocus-pocus, trickery, misleading statements, half-truths, omissions and outright lies.”

Petrocelli conceded on Tuesday that Skilling, during his six-month tenure as Enron CEO in 2001, made many mistakes, and said Skilling was far better at building the company in the years before than he was at running it. But mistakes are not crimes, the lawyer said.

But for the most part, Petrocelli’s closing argument attacked the way the government handled the Enron case. He turned a prosecutor’s suggestion that the case was about “lies and choices” back onto the government itself.

“This was all manufactured after the fact,” Petrocelli said. “Because it’s Enron. After all, somebody has to pay. It’s Enron.”

Ruemmler said Monday Lay and Skilling repeatedly lied to pump up Enron’s stock price and win adoration from Wall Street and their peers. But throughout 2001 the stock price fell steadily.

The prosecutor said both men chose not to probe unusual financial structures or conflicts of interest. Jurors will be able to consider whether the defendants deliberately avoided learning bad news, though she pressed the issue more in relation to Lay.

“Over and over and over again, Mr. Lay chose not to ask hard questions. The law says you can’t do that. You cannot escape liability by putting your head in the sand,” she said.

Skilling faces 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors related to his activities from 1999 to August 2001. Lay faces six counts of fraud and conspiracy stemming mostly from the period after he resumed as CEO upon Skilling’s departure.

On Thursday, Lay will be on trial again _ before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, but without a jury _ in a case related to his personal banking. In that case, the government contends he obtained $75 million in loans from three banks from 1999 through 2001 and reneged on agreements not to use the money to carry or buy margin stock. He is charged with one count of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements to banks in the case.

Lake plans to issue his verdict in the banking case, which is expected to last several days, after jurors in the larger conspiracy case render theirs.