Disgraced Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling, who has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for insider trading and fraud, began his appeal against the sentence yesterday.

The Guardian reports that Skilling is claiming that his trial was unfair because it was held in Houston, where there was 'venomous emotion' over Enron's collapse.

'Long before any trial was convened, newspapers around the country, politicians in Washington and an inflamed public were all demanding prison sentences for Enron's managers. In Houston, such calls rung out daily with venomous emotion,' says the appeal brief.

The appeal is being heard in New Orleands and Skilling's lawyer Dan Petrocelli has already pleaded for his client to be released from a Minnesota prison, where he has been held since December 2006.

Experts believe Skilling's appeal is a long shot and prosecutors have described the appeal as 'hyperbolic rhetoric'.

Further reading:

Another billion for Enron creditors

Ex-Enron CE appeals conviction