Ken Lay Not Keeping Quiet

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay launched an impassioned plea for former employees of the bankrupt energy company to defy a "wave of terror" by federal prosecutors and help him battle criminal charges.

"It will only take a few brave individuals who are willing to stand up and say it's time for the truth to come out," Lay told the Houston Forum a month before he faces trial on fraud and conspiracy counts.

Lay reiterated in a speech Tuesday before about 500 business and academic leaders his insistence that he committed no crimes related to Enron's 2001 crash. He accused the government of bullying potential witnesses who could help him and promised to testify in his own defense.

"Truth is a great rock," he said, quoting Winston Churchill. "Whether it will continue to be submerged by a wave, a wave of terror by the Enron Task Force, will be determined by former Enron employees."

CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports Lay will take the stand to be able to beat back

what he called a "wave of terror" by prosecutors (video)

. The only way it seems to keep Lay from talking once the trial starts is if the judge issues a gag order, Cowan adds.

Lay and his co-defendants, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and former top accountant Richard Causey, have repeatedly alleged that critical witnesses are afraid to talk to them because prosecutors intimidate them with possible indictments or harsh sentences for those who have already pleaded guilty. Prosecutors have repeatedly denied intimidating anyone.