Inside the indictment
Monday, Apr 6, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Blagojevich’s indictment last week was actually included in a superseding indictment of Bill Cellini. The Daily Herald explains what this means…
First, said DePaul law professor Len Cavise, it effectively steers the trial of Blagojevich to U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who was already assigned to the Cellini case. […]
But had prosecutors started fresh, the case would have been assigned to a judge at random, with possibly disastrous consequences. In Zagel, they have a known, stable quantity. If a guilty verdict is obtained, they can be fairly certain of prison time. Contrast that with the monster surprise prosecutors faced just last month when Judge Milton I. Shadur let former Chicago Alderman Edward Vrdolyak walk free even though he had pleaded guilty to his role in a crooked real estate deal.
From the Tribune…
Zagel, a Reagan appointee who has served almost 22 years on the federal bench, is widely respected but is seen by many attorneys as generally pro-government.
Back to the Daily Herald…
The second thing the maneuver does is make Cellini sit with Blagojevich while he defends himself. That’s something defense attorneys hate, particularly when there’s much less evidence against their client, or their client is much less well-known than another defendant. Both situations are true in Cellini’s case when compared to Blagojevich. […]
“The toxicity on him (Blagojevich) is going to spill over on anybody who has to sit next to him,” said an attorney involved in the case, who asked that he not be named. “The Cellini defense just got a whole lot worse.”
Tribune…
The move had another immediate impact: Terence Gillespie dropped out Friday as Blagojevich’s lead attorney because he once helped represent Cellini.
Clever. But is it fair to everyone involved?
* Related…
* The president of the Illinois Education Association is calling for the immediate resignation or removal of Jon Bauman, executive director of the scandal-plagued Teachers’ Retirement System.
* Candidate: Cellini money tainted
* Cost of corruption by state officials high for Illinois taxpayers
* Blagojevich fallout: With ex-friends lined up to testify against former governor, who needs enemies?
* Blago high-profile lawyer to drop out of case
* Edgar calls Blagojevich worst governor he’s seen
* Mentioned, but not charged: Did Patti Blagojevich dodge bullet?
* Despite scrutiny, Patti Blagojevich avoids indictment
- Leave a light on George - Monday, Apr 6, 09 @ 12:27 pm:
“The toxicity on him (Blagojevich) is going to spill over on anybody who has to sit next to him,”
Didn’t seem to bother Sen. Burris - unless of course he ends up facing state perjury charges.
- wordslinger - Monday, Apr 6, 09 @ 12:31 pm:
That RICO is a powerful tool. You can tie together in a conspiracy people who have never met or spoken.
I’m curious about Zagel. Given all the years he worked for Bill Scott and Thompson, he must know all the big-time GOP players like Cellini and Webb.
- Macbeth - Monday, Apr 6, 09 @ 1:28 pm:
Speaking of Burris — all this makes his appointment — and his subsequent *acceptance* of said appointment — despicable.
I never cared for Burris before — I thought he lacked a bit upstairs — but this makes me dislike Burris with an intensity that borders on my dislike for Blagojevich. And that’s a lot of dislike.
But I’m sure Burris will plod along like a braindead snail.
- Tainted Money - Monday, Apr 6, 09 @ 2:08 pm:
Cellini money tainted … well, not sure about township races, but Cellini influence on local politics is worth looking at — particularly the $100,000 given to the candidate for state’s attorney at the same time Cellini, Levine and Rezko were involved in kickback scheme at TRS.
Little known fact, the candidate for state’s attorney is the son of TRS board member Phil Schmidt.
Sure does “pay” to have the local state’s attorney in your corner when ripping off taxpayers via TRS.
- Dan S, a Voter, Taxpayer and Cubs Fan - Monday, Apr 6, 09 @ 2:18 pm:
Speaking of Burris, I finally received a response from Senator Durbing to an email I sent him right after Burris was seated in the Senate. April 6, 2009
Dear Mr. Shields:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the circumstances surrounding the appointment of Roland Burris to the United States Senate. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this matter.
Former Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to fill the Senate seat vacated when Barack Obama became our President. The governor took this action after he was arrested and charged with a criminal complaint that he was conspiring to sell the vacant Senate seat. Before Senator Burris was sworn in as a Senator, I joined Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in asking Mr. Burris to provide sworn testimony before the Illinois House committee considering the impeachment of the governor and the circumstances of his appointment.
After Roland Burris testified before the Illinois House Committee on Impeachment and presented complete credentials to the Secretary of the Senate, he was sworn in as the junior Senator from Illinois. Senator Burris subsequently filed an affidavit amending his earlier testimony and revealing additional communications, prior to his appointment, between him and people associated with then-Governor Blagojevich, including the former governor’s brother.
Both the Senate Ethics Committee and the Sangamon County State’s Attorney, John Schmidt, are currently investigating this matter. This is the appropriate course of action and I await the outcome of those investigations.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts about this matter. Please feel free to stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
RJD/hw
- Quinn T. Sential - Monday, Apr 6, 09 @ 5:47 pm:
{Clever. But is it fair to everyone involved?}
About as fair as; let’s say,
Cellini & Friends winning that “public bid” for one of the first casino licenses in Illinois.
Cellini & Friends having Stuart Levine and the IGB find Jack Binyon un-fit to hold his gaming license in Illinois, forcing the Empress sale in a public bid auction to none other than Cellini & Friends.
The IGB approving the sale of the Alton and Joliet Casino licenses from Cellini & Friends to Penn National for about a $60 million net pay-day to Cellini alone, while Cellini still owed millions in principal and interest on the Springfield hotel loan.
Cellini & Friends inflating the expenses on the Springfied hotel, so as never having to make payments to the State on the notes issuews to build the hotel.
All in all, the fed’s minimizing the expense of a lengthy trial by consolidating multiple defendants into one case may be one of the few things that seems fair to me, and I got tired of typing, and just scratched the surface here.
- DuPage Moderate - Monday, Apr 6, 09 @ 8:34 pm:
Fair? Do we think that the US Attorney’s office is concerned with fairness?
They care about prosecutions…and they will step on anyone and ruin lives without regret or remorse to get their targets.
Beware - when the eye of the US Gov’t turns toward you, you’ve already lost. Our forefathers would be disgusted at the abuse of power going on in the Northeast District US Atty’s office. Separation of powers my youknowwhat.
Blago is a total scumbag and so is Ryan - but when the US Attorney can remove a goernor based upon a criminal COMPLAINT, not an INDICTMENT, we have some serious issues with separation of powers in our state.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 7:19 am:
–…when the US Attorney can remove a goernor based upon a criminal COMPLAINT, not an INDICTMENT, we have some serious issues with separation of powers in our state.–
The GA removed the governor, under the Constitution, with just one dissenting vote. — his sister-in-law.
The GA is so diverse, I doubt you could get a vote like that on a resolution thanking the sun for coming up in the morning.
The Justice Department is very powerful, but Blago’s vulgar and massive crimes make him a poor poster boy for prosecutorial abuse.