 On Tuesday, the prosecution and defense finished up the seven-week
trial, which reintroduced Blagojevich to the spotlight in early
June.The 12 jurors and six alternates will be harbored away in a
backroom at Chicago's Dirksen Federal Courthouse to decide the fate
of Illinois' first impeached governor, far from the camera lights
and glitz Blagojevich has brought to the trial. There they will
decide whether he is guilty, a finding that could lead to him being
sentenced to as much as 415 years in prison.
They will have weeks of testimony from some of Blagojevich's
closest friends and advisers, along with mountains of documents and
audiotapes at their disposal to make what both sides have declared
"an easy decision."
The jury was left with two different impressions of the former
governor. The prosecution painted Blagojevich as an arrogant,
foul-mouthed, savvy political operator out for himself. Meanwhile,
the defense told the jurors they were looking at an arrogant,
foul-mouthed buffoon operating on bad advice from his advisers.
Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. bounded through six weeks of
prosecutors' arguments to make up ground for the defense's absence
of witnesses. He made his final push on Tuesday to acquit the former
Illinois governor with his usual bombast, but without the defiance
evident in Monday's hearing.
The showman attorney danced about the courtroom, alternatively
yelling and whispering for dramatic effect as he inched closer to
the jury box -- at one point apologizing to a juror for accidentally
spitting on him. He addressed a wide range of topics, from the
prosecution's insider witnesses to Blagojevich's refusal to take the
stand, despite Adam Jr.'s promise at the start of the trial.
"I figured at the beginning of the trial I'd have to call Rod up
here, but they proved (his innocence) to you in their case," he
said. "I wasn't lying to you, but if you don't believe me, blame
me."
Adam Jr.'s vocal style stands opposite the prosecution's
PowerPoint presentations and dry, straightforward arguments about
Blagojevich's alleged schemes. Adam Jr.'s mouth has also introduced
him to a whole bunch of hot water, drawing Judge James Zagel's ire
throughout the case -- a trend that continued during the closing
statements. Zagel sustained numerous objections from the prosecution
concerning the celebrity attorney's tone and message -- including a
drawn-out joke.
"Wholly inappropriate," lead prosecutor Reid Schar said.
"It's supposed to be an argument summing up," Zagel told Adam Jr.
"I think they're objecting because it's becoming more of a show."
Adam Jr. did get down to details, taking on numerous prosecution
witnesses and their testimony about the alleged shakedowns.
Blagojevich's attorney challenged the notion that the ex-governor
illegally demanded campaign dollars for state action, emphasizing
that the governor approved action before asking for contributions.
Time and again, Adam Jr. said, Blagojevich's alleged targets "got
the bill signed and he got nothing."
He pointed to testimony from road-builder Gerry Krozel that
Blagojevich tried to shake him down in exchange for a $6 billion
capital bill. The government argues the governor approved a $1.8
billion project to whet Krozel's appetite to give. The defense,
however, said his approval substantiated Blagojevich's case.
"They want you to convict him of extortion because he gave the
(road-building) industry $1.8 billion," he said. "He promised the
$1.8 billion and did it and then asked for a contribution -- how
could it be one for the other?"
"That is not the law," Zagel interrupted him. "The law I give you
is what you must follow. ... You will (only) apply your facts to
that law."
Federal prosecutors would later clarify for the jury that an
illegal exchange can still occur if state action, such as a bill
signing, takes place before a campaign contribution or other form of
political gain.
The prosecution's frequent objections can do more than just
clarify. There are strategic considerations at hand, according to
criminal defense attorney John Lag. Closing arguments are generally
smooth rides with little interruption from either side. Objections,
however, can be used to interrupt an attorney's train of thought and
limit the impact of the final argument.
"There's a professional courtesy and civility not to interrupt
the other side (during closings)," he said. "That courtesy was not
returned by the prosecution to the defense."
One of the facts Blagojevich's team is counting on is convincing
the jury Blagojevich was engaged in political horse-trading, rather
than corruption. Adam Jr. replayed some of the FBI wiretaps of
Blagojevich discussing President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate
seat. Adam Jr. argued that the ex-governor intended to choose
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan for the seat in order to win
concessions from her father, powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael
Madigan, D-Chicago.
"He was trying to get 300,000 people health care; he was trying
to make sure a capital bill would result; he was trying to make sure
disabled veterans didn't have to pay property taxes," he said of
Blagojevich's aims for the Senate seat. "This isn't extortion --
this is a negotiation."
The defense has long argued that Blagojevich's alleged scheming
is typical in politics. Adam Jr. continued to hammer this point home
by discussing Blagojevich's political crisis and his desire to get
his agenda passed to improve it.
The defense attorney blasted the advisers surrounding Blagojevich
who took the stand against their former boss, from law school
roommate and former aide Lon Monk -- who took money -- to former
deputy governors Brad Tusk -- a bright, but untrustworthy guy -- and
Bob Greenlee -- a coward.
"Greenlee took more than $100,000 a year to advise this man,"
Adam Jr. said pointing at Blagojevich. "Who are we kidding when he
says, 'I was trying to disagree by agreeing.' ... He was BS-ing
you."
The presence of political insiders and personal friends on the
witness stand has served as the backbone of the government's case
against Blagojevich.
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Adam Jr. repeatedly tried to raise doubts about the credibility
of Blagojevich's cooperating alleged co-conspirators. He said the
advisers' conversations with Blagojevich on tape represent a failure
on their part to properly inform the ex-governor that his plans were
illegal.
Nearly all of those insiders admitted under cross-examination to
appeasing the governor out of fear of being ostracized.
"Name just one time ... where (his advisers) say, 'You can't do
this, Governor,'" he said. "They said, 'You could do it'; not only
that, they said, 'You should do it.'"
Schar said Blagojevich didn't need his advisers to tell him he
was crossing the line, highlighting his law degree, career as a
criminal prosecutor and his completion of frequent ethics
examinations. The prosecutor tried to dispel the defense's notion
that Blagojevich's apparent ignorance of the law served as excuse
for his actions.
"This guy has more background in (criminal law) than most lawyers
and somehow he became the accidentally corrupt governor," the
prosecutor declared. "It's no one's job to stop him from committing
a crime but the defendant's. It's his job."
The legal nuances of the case, however, represented only a small
part of the divergent portraits of the governor's actions in office.
A trial that has been so absorbed in personality saw the attorneys
battle for the jury's impression of the defendant sitting before the
court.
Adam Jr. took aim at his own client, along with his former
associates. The attorney acknowledged Blagojevich's character flaws,
including his insecurity, ignorance and foul mouth, eliciting some
laughs and awkward smiles from the jury.
"He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer," he said while
reviewing the FBI recordings. "He was just yakking -- if you put
Joan and Melissa Rivers in the same room, you wouldn't get that much
talk."
Schar, however, shot right back at the defense, countering the
"Blagojevich as buffoon" image the governor played out in court and
on reality television. It appeared a reluctant compliment.
"He is not stupid; he's very smart," Schar said. "He knows how to
communicate -- that's what he does for a living ... and he knows how
to get his message across."
Schar was not the only one at odds with Blagojevich's attorneys.
The judge and Adam Jr. squared off on Monday when the attorney
threatened to defy Zagel's orders to leave out witnesses who were
passed over by the prosecution, including convicted influence
peddler Tony Rezko. Adam Jr. stayed away from the issue.
But he wasn't happy about it.
"I didn't give the closing argument I wanted to give," he said
outside the courtroom. "I wanted to get into all the things that all
the people and all the witnesses that they didn't call."
Schar's rebuttal to more than two hours of Adam's elaborate
performance briefly referenced Blagojevich's brother and former
fundraiser Robert.
"There is no doubt Rod Blagojevich dragged his brother into this
conspiracy," Schar said. "He knew and continued to participate."
Robert Blagojevich, the Tennessee businessman, faces four
charges, including attempted extortion and bribery, in connection
with his brother's alleged attempt to sell the Senate seat. Schar
said the tapes show Robert mixing fundraising with governance.
The judge will provide the jurors with dozens of instructions,
which will guide them through their deliberations. But even that
process proved contentious. The prosecution and defense negotiated
the extensive list of instructions, which include guidelines for
each of the 23 charges and what is needed to reach a verdict.
Blagojevich's attorneys sought to lose language in three areas of
the instruction list, which they said muddied the waters of
acquittal. Marc Martin, the defense's jury expert, challenged the
prosecution's list of what factors are not needed to convict the
ex-governor.
The prosecution considers such points critical for a jury that
may be unclear about what exactly qualifies as reasonable doubt in
its deliberations. That much was clear when Assistant U.S. Attorney
Chris Niewohner told jurors on Monday that Blagojevich did not have
to successfully commit a crime in order to be found guilty.
But Martin claimed the instructions on what was needed to convict
were sufficient for the jury. Anything more could shift the burden
to the defense.
Zagel was unconvinced, overruling Martin's objection, along with
two other similar arguments.
The jury will now take those instructions on Wednesday in
connection with a bevy of corruption charges, including extortion,
bribery and wire fraud.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BILL McMORRIS]
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