HOUSTON — The executive assistant of Arthur Andersen LLP's lead Enron Corp. auditor sobbed Friday as she testified about learning from a news release that her boss had been fired after revelations of document destruction.

        Shannon Adlong, David Duncan's aide since her 1996 arrival at the accounting firm, said she was summoned from lunch on Jan. 15 back to her office, where she read the release Andersen issued essentially blaming Mr. Duncan for improper document destruction.

        “I called (Duncan at) his attorney's office and we talked about it, and he said nobody did anything wrong, he didn't do anything wrong and nobody on the (audit) team did anything wrong and that he doesn't understand and for me not to worry about it,” said Ms. Adlong, 32, who then began sobbing.

        Andersen attorney Rusty Hardin promptly passed the witness and court recessed for the weekend, leaving that image on jurors' minds until testimony resumes Monday.

        Mr. Duncan testified earlier in Andersen's obstruction of justice trial that he didn't think he did anything wrong when he directed employees to comply with the firm's document retention policy, which calls for the shredding of unnecessary material. After several interviews with prosecutors and his own “soul searching,” he said he realized he committed a crime and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and promised to help prosecutors.

        In the days before his termination, Ms. Adlong said Mr. Duncan seemed mystified about the turn of events, including Enron's collapse and Andersen's entanglement in a budding scandal.

        Earlier, Ms. Adlong told jurors she independently instructed fellow executive assistants to catch up with shredding duties more than a week before the government alleges Mr. Duncan engaged in a conspiracy to destroy documents.

        The subject came up in an executive assistants' meeting Oct. 14. Prosecutors allege the rank-and-file of the Enron audit team weren't told to comply with the firm's document retention policy until Oct. 23 and afterward.

        “I just told (fellow secretaries on Oct. 14) if they didn't have time to do it, they should box it up and send it to (the main Houston office),” said Ms. Adlong, who left Andersen in May.

        Evidence has shown in-house Andersen lawyer Nancy Temple sent an e-mail to Houston on Oct. 12 suggesting the Enron team comply with the document policy. Ms. Duncan testified he largely ignored it until Oct. 23, although others were aware of it earlier.

        Ms. Adlong, who dealt with Mr. Duncan daily, said she didn't know about the renewed focus on the policy until a meeting Oct. 24.

        Mr. Duncan spent about 15 minutes flagging documents — piled nearly a foot high — for destruction before returning to his auditing duties, Ms. Adlong said. He testified it took an hour or more.

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