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Levine’s alleged drug use can be issue at trial

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Illinois

* The US Attorney was handed a significant defeat yesterday…

Stuart Levine, the government’s star witness against indicted political fundraiser Tony Rezko, had a serious drug problem, which included using marijuana, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, Special K and Ecstasy — a fact that can be used as fodder by Rezko’s defense team to question how the drug use affected Levine’s memory, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve ruled this week that Rezko’s attorneys can question Levine on his drug use on evenings prior to key meetings referred to in the government’s case, as well as whether he initially failed to disclose his drug use and the extent of it to the government.

Federal prosecutors had asked to bar Rezko’s attorneys from questioning Levine about the drug use at all, arguing Levine only used the drugs during social activities, and the drugs did not impair his memory.

Special K and X? What, is he a college student?

* Despite the US Attorney’s claim, Rezko’s lawyer pointed to the prosecutor’s own evidence that showed Levine may have used drugs at work…

In her ruling, the judge recounted how Levine’s former secretary told prosecutors in 2005 that Levine used cocaine daily in his office.

Two years later, she told Rezko’s lawyers that Levine had often been high when he came to work and locked himself in his office for up to three hours at a time to snort cocaine. The secretary said she often found cocaine residue and drug paraphernalia in his office.

* And the memory loss thing? Well, that was put off for another day…

St. Eve said she will rule later on whether she will allow a medical expert hired by the defense to testify at trial on the impact of Levine’s drug use “on his memory, attention span, and his ability to perceive and understand events accurately.”

According to a fact sheet by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Ketamine is a tranquilizer most commonly used on animals that can cause “long-term memory and cognitive difficulties” among other side effects in humans.

* This is important because Rezko’s attorneys claim that Levine made up a bunch of stuff. I’ll have more on that soon.

* The defense didn’t win everything yesterday…

The judge declined to let Rezko’s attorneys question Levine about unspecified other “personal social activities” because any potential relevance they may have would be outweighed by “its extreme prejudicial impact” on the jury.

That must be some heavy stuff. Please, no speculation in comments. Thanks.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 8:59 am

Comments

Just when I thought that my opinion of this pathetic excuse for a man couldnt sink any lower, something like this comes out. How can this loser’s testimony be relied upon to build a case against anybody? Doing Cocaine in his office? Has anybody seen the movie “Less than Zero?” And crystal meth? Are you kidding me? Do you know what methheads will do to get high?

This is pathetic.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:05 am
Can’t speculate…? That takes away most of the fun (esp. for Rezko’s defense). If it’s that bad, you have to figure Rezko’s atty. will figure out a way to slip it in or at least allude to it.

This points out the problem with using star witnesses who rat out others to to save themselves. If the gov’t doesn’t have reliable collaboration, the case could easily crash and burn.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:15 am
The feds have done pretty well in public corruption trials in recent years. I would expect them to take this in stride.

What’s more important to me is that both Ryan and
Blago appointed Levine to heavy duty boards, whose decisions have huge public impact, despite Levine having what even he now admits was a severe substance abuse problems. Don’t these pols ever vet anybody?How about random drug tests? Or is it only money, money, money that speaks, not only for the Republican honchos that appointed Levine but
also for the Democrats who happily re-appointed him. When money, money, money is speaking, the
concerns of ordinary citizens are not even on the table. And that is true of the leaders of both parties. It’s Illinois, after all, where only
poor nonviolent drug offenders (and lots of them)
go to jail.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:27 am
Levine is very credible. If he has an impaired memory, sure didn’t show to me. And I had a front row seat.

Comment by Judgment Day Is On The Way... Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:27 am
It seems to me that the effect this revelation will have on Rezko’s trial is secondary. The real news here is, as Cassandra points out, that an (apparently) hard-core drug user got appointed to an important state board by BOTH Republican and Democratic administrations!
Also, is this same kind of meth that we normally associate with scrawny, pockmarked, death-warmed-over-looking people who cook it up from cold pills and anhydrous ammonia in their garage, trailer, basement, etc? Yikes.

Comment by Bookworm Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:40 am
So that’s what they meant when they say we was wired for over a year!

Sorry, but it was just too easy.

Comment by Jaded Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:46 am
So Blagojevich put a gambling addict in charge of our state’s gaming future, and put a drug addict on the TRS Board of Trustees?

What are the qualifications for being appointed by this governor? Besides cash and money orders made out to “Rod Blagojevich”?

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:47 am
What a wreck. A decent defense attorney should be able to score points with a jury.

As to why he was still appointed by successive guvs, I think the answer is all-too apparent.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:54 am
“Special K and X? What, is he a college student?”

Funniest line of the day. Well done, sir!

Comment by Feldman Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 9:55 am
How long will it take one of my Sock Puppets to put in a bill mandating drug testing for all appointees?
Blowhard Bill, ya out there?
BTW And the BlowHardBill countdown clock is at 10 months, 22 days, 1 hour and 21 minutes

Comment by SockPuppet Express Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 10:29 am
Not to get off topic here, but I need clarification on the Blowhard Bill countdown clock. If it runs out at noon on Jan. 13, 2009, that’s NOT the end of Blago’s current term. It’s the end of the current General Assembly. Which one is it supposed to be?

Comment by Bookworm Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 10:36 am
“What’s more important to me is that both Ryan and
Blago appointed Levine to heavy duty boards, whose decisions have huge public impact, despite Levine having what even he now admits was a severe substance abuse problems.”

How naive can one get. He was appointed because of his weaknesses.

Comment by True Observer Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 1:01 pm
But to me, if Rezko still profited with the help of Levine, Stu’s drug use should be irrelevant regardless of his “state of mind”. After all, plenty of adept crooks and money launderers probably partake in recreational or heavy drug use. Levine may be the sketchiest person in this deal, but Rezko either didn’t care about his drug use or now wants us to believe he should have never listened to an addict. Sorry, Tony, but I don’t buy it.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 1:49 pm
This is the same old song. If Levine were a defense witness, the Feds would be wailing how his alleged drug use renders him useless as a witness.

The defense will attempt to raise the “unspecified social activities”,whatever they are, again. Just wait.

Comment by Games People Play Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 1:52 pm
I like the Special K that comes with the dried strawberries. . .

Comment by Jake from Elwood Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 2:10 pm
“personal social activities”

Comment by BOY o BOY Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 2:17 pm
“unspecified other ‘personal social activities’”

Comment by Devotion to Accuracy Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 2:48 pm
Was Rezko supplying Levine with enough money to afford that amount of drugs?

Isn’t Levine walking around free? (I really don’t know.)

Where the heck do you get Special K? Isn’t that a horse tranquilizer?

Uppers, then downers, then mood stabilizers - heck, it is a wonder that he even knew what day it was. Was alcohol mixed in too?

Comment by Shelbyville Wednesday, Feb 20, 08 @ 4:22 pm