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| Home Front: Politix |
| "Antny" Rezko and Obama, turn up the volume please. |
| 2008-05-15 |
| Antoin "Tony" Rezko was attacked by the prosecution as the mastermind of an elaborate fraud scheme but excused by the defense as a total bystander as closing arguments began Monday in the trial of the Blagojevich administration insider. "This case is about the defendant's corrupt use of his power and influence to benefit himself and his friends over the people of Illinois," Assistant U.S. Atty. Reid Schar told jurors. But Rezko's lawyer, Joseph Duffy, insisted that prosecutors were so dead set on nabbing Rezko they grossly inflated his political influence and tried to frame him for the criminal behavior of their own star witness, political fixer Stuart Levine. "The government has spent 10 weeks trying to convince you that Mr. Rezko was probably the governor of Illinois," Duffy said. "But there's not a single charge in here other than Stuart Levine's criminal acts, and that should shock you." The extent of Rezko's political muscle was front and center in the debate before jurors, highlighting the stakes in a case that not only has put Gov. Rod Blagojevich on the defensive but also has proved an embarrassment this election year for Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama. Rezko befriended both Illinois leaders and did significant fundraising for them. The criminal case against Rezko centers on his connections to Blagojevich, not Obama. Combined, Schar and Duffy made 41 references to the governor on Monday. Schar never mentioned Obama's name, and Duffy uttered it twice. Schar reminded jurors of something Duffy had told them when the trial began in early March: Rezko was, in reality, dedicated to good government. "Ladies and gentlemen, time and time again, the evidence demonstrates that the defendant was not about good government," Schar declared in a scolding tone. Rezko is charged with 24 criminal counts, including mail and wire fraud, attempted extortion and money-laundering. Prosecutors said Rezko schemed with Levine to reap millions of dollars of illegal kickbacks through Levine's positions on a pair of state boards. The prosecution's case was complex, and Schar's task was to take disparate strands of evidence and weave a simple, user-friendly explanation of how it tied together. Where he and Duffy differed most vigorously was over the importance of Levine to the government's case. To Duffy, everything prosecutors were trying to pin on Rezko relied on Levine, who over 15 days of testimony proved a shaky witness with an often unreliable memory. Duffy hit time and time again at Levine's credibility, his long history of drug abuse and his ready admission he had been a lifelong con man and liar. His voice dripping with sarcasm, Duffy ridiculed Levine as a "Pinocchio" who made up a fantastic story about Rezko to secure a plea deal and a lighter sentence for his own crimes from prosecutors. "His nose grew on the witness stand," Duffy declared. As Duffy spoke, a quote from his blistering cross-examination of Levine flashed on a large screen. "But you wouldn't try to pull a con on this jury, would you, Mr. Levine?" it read. And Duffy told jurors that the Levine they heard testify was an airbrushed version of the Levine they heard on government wiretaps talking to Rezko and other major figures in the case. On the tapes, Duffy said, Levine repeatedly stammered and often sounded incoherent, suggesting that Levine was stoned. To back up that notion, Duffy also highlighted bank records that Levine made more than $1.3 million in cash withdrawals between 2000 and 2004, most of which the lawyer claimed must have been spent on drugs. Prosecutors "brought serious charges against a citizen of this country based solely on the credibility of a man who cannot be believed," Duffy argued. Schar made no attempt to defend Levine but rather confronted his character problems head-on. "He is the embodiment of corruption," Schar said in a tacit admission that Levine was not an ideal witness. "And on top of that he is arrogant and unlikable." The issue was not whether the jury found Levine repugnant, Schar continued. "The issue is whether he's telling the truth," the prosecutor said. While Duffy portrayed Levine as pivotal to the government's case, Schar described him as only a piece of the puzzle and argued that his allegations against Rezko were bolstered by other witnesses as well as conversations on government wiretaps. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 The only place this is going to turn up is on the net. Like Monicagate, the MSM sold their souls to someone and will not do a 'Republican'* on one of their own until the damage is already done, both to the protected and their shredded dwindling customer base. On the other hand it keeps the Keating Five off the front burner too, because Rezko will be the one word reply to any MSM storyline. * all day, all night, 24 hour scandal mongering. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-05-15 10:01 |