CHICAGO - Rod Blagojevich is an honest man who "didn't take a dime" but had the bad judgment to trust the wrong people, the former Illinois governor's fiery attorney said Tuesday at his corruption trial.
Blagojevich will also take the stand on his own behalf, not just let a lawyer speak for him, defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. said in his opening statements.
"The guy ain't corrupt," Adam whispered, after slamming his hand down. He said the ousted governor's wife, Patti Blagojevich, will take the stand as well.
Adam, who punctuated his opening remarks by waving his arm and pointing his fingers with his arm extended, said Blagojevich was fooled by those close to him.
Now-convicted influence peddler Antoin "Tony" Rezko helped raise money for lots of political candidates, including Blagojevich, Adam said. But he told jurors that "not a single penny" of ill-gotten money went into Blagojevich's campaign fund or his own pockets...............
"And you know how many illegal accounts they found - none. He's. Broke. He's broke."
Judge James B. Zagel had given Adam - best known for his theatrical and successful defense of R&B star R. Kelly two years ago - an hour and 45 minutes for his statement. He had asked for up to two and a half hours.
The former governor's co-defendant - and brother - Robert Blagojevich, 54, a Nashville, Tenn., businessman, has pleaded not guilty to taking part in the alleged plan to sell the Senate seat and plotting to illegally squeeze a racetrack owner for a hefty contribution to the Blagojevich campaign fund.
His attorney, Michael Ettinger, reminded jurors that Robert Blagojevich is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army reserve who served in missile unit based in Germany and stayed in the reserves for 16 years.
"Why am I telling you this? Because Robert Blagojevich ... is not about money," Ettinger said, raising his voice slightly for emphasis.
The jury was sworn in earlier Tuesday. Including alternates, the panel has 11 women and seven men.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
Charges against a teenager who falsely claimed she was raped on her way home from the South Side Irish Parade were dropped today after the girl's family promised to pay police more than $2,000.
But the Cook County state's attorney's office, Tinley Park police and 19-year-old Heather Krueger's lawyer all say she didn't bribe her way out of trouble.
Her family's agreement to meet Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki's demand they refund police the $2,219 cost of the investigation is unrelated to the decision to drop charges, authorities insist.
Tinley Park last year passed an ordinance allowing the village to recoup costs from convicted criminals, including those convicted of filing a false police report.
Krueger's attorney Mark Besbekos said the Kreugers had agreed to pay only because "it was the right thing to do."
Though "there was no quid pro quo," the state's attorney's office was "aware of the commitment to pay police back" before the hearing, Besbekos said.
Zabrocki, who also denied any quid pro quo, said his police chief called three days earlier to tell him the case would be dropped and that the Kreuger family would pay. Krueger's hoax was unmasked a week before parade organizers canceled next year's event, citing high levels of public drunkenness and crime.
In October of last year, Palos Heights police took heat from the public after authorities decided not to pursue charges against a 17-year-old girl for fabricating a story that she was abducted and sexually assaulted as she left work.
The girl and her family apologized to the southwest suburban community in a written statement and police said she was ordered to perform community service.
Some media reports said the investigation into the alleged rape cost up to $250,000, but police claimed the figure was much lower, though they would not say how much.
--Kim Janssen
A jury in Chicago has acquitted a former suburban police officer and another man of counterfeiting charges stemming from a 1992 raid in Palos Hills, attorneys said Thursday.
Terrence O’keefe a former Willow Springs police officer, and Joseph Favata of Wstchester, were found innocent of counterfeiting and conspiracy charger on Dec. 29, Michael Ettinger, their attorney, said.
However, O’Keefe was convicted of possession and use of a false Social Security identification card, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Dobkin.
The two were arrested June 3, 1992, by U. S. Secret Service agents at a print shop at 10606 Roberts Rd., where authorities said they confiscated $250,000 in counterfeit $20 and $50 bills.
PEORIA – A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the case of a Bartonville man who police allege had more than 20 pounds of marijuana and $184,000 in cash when his house was raided in April 2003. The evidence phase of Patrick Bott’s trial lasted about five hours as the all woman jury deliberated before telling Peoria County Circuit Judge Stuart Borden that they were hopelessly deadlocked. Bott’s attorney, Micheal Ettinger of Chicago, argued to the panel that police did not prove his client knowingly possessed the drugs, saying they could have belonged to an informant who allegedly obtained 10 pounds of marijuana from Bott just before police raided the home. Ettinger who pointed out offices with the Mult-County Narcotics Enforcement Group did not process any of the plastic bags found in the house for fingerprints, evidence he said would have shown the drugs weren’t Bott’s.
Ettinger and Besbekos PC
Phone/Fax: (708)923-0368
12413 S. Harlem, Suite 203, Palos Heights, IL 60463
Website by Thomas Johnston