By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham, AL – Defense attorneys are trying to convince jurors that former HealthSouth C-E-O Richard Scrushy was not responsible for the massive accounting scandal at the company. Instead, Monday they tried to pin the scandal on former finance chief Bill Owens. Scrushy's defense says it was Owens who first came up with the idea of inflating the company's financial records. The issue came up during cross-examination of former assistant controller Ken Livesay. He said Owens brought more people into the conspiracy to make it possible to hide the accounting fraud. Both Livesay and Owens are among 15 former HealthSouth executives who have pleaded guilty in the case.