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Robert Blagojevich maintains he did nothing wrong in connection with
his brother's alleged scheme to get a high-paying job or Cabinet
post in exchange for the appointment to the Senate seat that Barack
Obama was leaving after being elected president. The first defense
witness will probably be someone even most of those who have
followed the trial have heard little, if anything, about -- Julie
Blagojevich. Robert Blagojevich's wife is expected to tell the story
of their family and how she saw her husband get into trouble with
the federal government.
After that, Robert Blagojevich, a Nashville, Tenn., businessman,
is expected to take the stand and answer questions from his tough,
experienced defense attorney, Michael Ettinger.
The former governor also is expected to take the stand as part of
his separate defense.
Rod Blagojevich, 53, has pleaded not guilty to scheming to sell
or trade the Senate seat and to plotting to launch a racketeering
operation in the governor's office.
Robert Blagojevich, 54, has pleaded not guilty to taking part in
the alleged Senate seat plan and plotting to pressure businessmen
illegally for campaign funds.
His attorneys cross-examined only a few witnesses as the
prosecution presented its case. They stressed his low profile
working for his brother as Rod Blagojevich's campaign fund manager.
One witness confirmed that Robert Blagojevich's campaign office desk
was the corner of a conference table facing a sink.
The biggest fireworks are expected later in the week if the
impeached governor indeed takes the stand, as he has often said he
will. It is rare for defendants in federal trials to testify in
their own defense because of the risk that their testimony will play
into the hands of a crafty prosecutor.
"He's the star -- you know they're going to be gunning for him,"
says Paul Green, a Roosevelt University political scientist who has
been on hand for about a third of the trial.
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But Blagojevich is a former Cook County prosecutor himself, as
well as a former congressman and governor. Verbal combat is nothing
new to him.
Experts say that on the stand, Blagojevich would need to abandon
his customary cocky air and make himself the very picture of
humility.
"He has to convince people he knows he's a jerk and sometimes
didn't work as hard as he should have and had a bad mouth and spent
too much money on clothes and insulted the people of the state,"
says Professor Leonard Cavise of DePaul University law school.
He says that frees Blagojevich to say he's sorry but the
government merely caught him at a bad moment and that he didn't
really mean to violate the law.
"He has to not fight like the barracuda that we know he is,"
Cavise says.
[Associated Press;
By MIKE ROBINSON, AP legal affairs writer]
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
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