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*** UPDATE 4 *** From the trial’s final argument…
Assistant U.S. Atty. Christopher Niewoehner ended the trial’s final argument with a flurry, asking the jury for a conviction.
This wasn’t some series of random circumstances that led to Rezko being victimized, said Niewoehner, his voice rising with anger as he spoke to the jury largely without notes.
“This is a crime, ladies and gentlemen,” Niewoehner said. “This is a crime that involves the highest levels of power in Illinois.”
[…]
“He’s a victim of nothing but his own greed,” Niewoehner said of Rezko. “And that is a victim you need not concern yourselves with.”
* The Sun-Times’ blog adds…
“Mo matter how much Mr. Duffy wants to make this trial about the secret life of Stuart Levine, that’s not what this trial is about,” he said. “There’s somebody else who’s being exposed – it’s the defendant [Rezko’s] secret life.”
Rezko’s secret life had nothing to do with drugs or the all-night parties Levine had at the Purple Hotel in Lincolnwood. For Rezko, it was all about covering his tracks, telling people “don’t talk” to authorities and “there’s going to be a new U.S. Attorney to come in. The cooperators will be dealt with.”
[…]
Besides Rezko manipulating votes on a state teacher-pension board to enrich himself and his associates with illegal finder’s fees, “this is a crime that involves deciding where hospitals are going to be built . . . based on who’s willing to pay a bribe,” he said.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Duffy has apparently wrapped up his closing argument…
Rezko was also a victim of Levine’s schemes, Duffy said. When Rezko dealt with him, he did not understand what a con man he was, he told the panel.
“Did he, like anyone else, have a clue about what he really was? Of course not,” Duffy said.
Government agents had 41 interviews with Levine, and they, too, were fooled by him, Duffy said.
“Unlike Mr. Rezko, they are professional law enforcement people,” argued Duffy, telling the jurors that agents and prosecutors always have their antennae up.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Tribune…
[Duffy] spent most of his time dealing with Count 16, a charge that Rezko tried to extort $1.5 million in campaign fundraising help for Gov. Rod Blagojevich out of Tom Rosenberg, a principal in real-estate management firm Capri Capital that was seeking $220 million in investments from the same pension board. Prosecutors say Rezko, Levine and others conspired to hold up the investment as they tried to force Rosenberg to comply.
“Nobody ever asked Rosenberg for any money,” Duffy said. “Nobody, nobody, nobody. I don’t know how you have an attempted extortion where nobody asks the intended victim for anything.”
Duffy said he expected to talk for another hour this afternoon, and then Assistant U.S. Atty. Chris Niewoehner will give a rebuttal argument for the government — the final argument from lawyers on either side in the case. Niewoehner said he expected to take less than two hours.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Tribune’s excellent Rezko trial blog (both Chicago papers seem to be doing very good jobs, by the way)…
It is, of course, impossible to read the minds of jurors as they watch the closing arguments, but at least one seems to be doing his best to broadcast his displeasure — or at least his boredom — with Duffy.
The man sitting at the end of the jury box closest to the news media can be seen from the gallery smirking, talking to himself, looking at the clock, leaning forward and staring at the chair in front of him. He then leaned back and thumped his head against a back wall, rubbed his eyes, stretched his arms, scratched his back and shook his head.
All of this while every other juror appears to be paying attention and a few are taking notes.
Defense attorney Duffy also went after Joe Cari’s testimony this morning, suggesting that Cari confused his meeting dates.
* 11:00 am - Rezko defense attorney Joe Duffy has resumed his closing arguments this morning…
Duffy invented a phrase to refer to the government’s theory of the case against Rezko. Duffy called it “the Levine prism.” All the evidence against Rezko, he said, is presented through the eyes and words of Levine. “It’s almost like they were trying to prove the Levine theory of the case and lost track of the big picture,” Duffy said.
And Duffy pulled out another metaphor, comparing the government’s case with the Great Pyramid of Egypt, an engineering marvel that sits perfectly balanced on its cornerstones. The message Duffy was trying to convey was that Levine was the cornerstone of the government’s case and therefore it was unsupportable.
* Going after Stu Levine appears to be a winner with the jury. This passage is from today’s Sun-Times…
At times, jurors smiled, suppressed chuckles or outright laughed. In poking fun at Levine’s memory, Duffy cited an old anti-drug commercial featuring eggs in a frying pan: “This is your brain. This is your brains on drugs. Bingo! They got it right.”
* And…
Several jurors tried to suppress laughter, including one who put her hands over her mouth.
* More Duffy one-liners from today’s closing arguments…
On why Levine is cooperating in the Rezko case: “He needed Rezko for one reason only. To avoid life in prison.”
On Levine’s claims that Levine was being truthful with the jury: “You’re not gonna change the stripes on a zebra.”
On what the government should have done with Levine: “They should have terminated his cooperation agreement and taken the full force of the law against him. The sad reality of it is they made a commitment to him and they needed him.”
On why the government didn’t have Levine attempt to record Rezko after Levine began cooperating: “Why wasn’t there an effort to tape Mr. Rezko? What do you think would have ended up on that tape? Nothing that would have been consistent with the story he told in this trial.”
* And…
Duffy showed a chart indicating Levine withdrew $1.3 million in cash from 2000 to early 2004. Duffy attributed the cash to a far more excessive drug use than what Levine admitted. He then showed a chart showing Levine dialed his drug sources 806 times in a 25-month period.
“That’s more than one call a day,” Duffy said.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:01 am
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806 times to your ‘dude’!? How many of those were one-minute calls bunched together while Levine was waiting to score…..
9:50 p.m. got any yet?
10:02 p.m. any news?
10:05 p.m. heard anything?
10:09 p.m. dude, I really need some
I think those should count as a single call.
Comment by Vote Quimby! Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:06 am
This is your government. This is your government when Blago and Rezko play ‘Pay to Play’.
Lets hope the jury fries both eggs.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:06 am
Very strong closing on Levine.
It seems to me the jury will do one of two things:
– Let Rezko off to demonstrate their revulsion to the Gs reliance on Levine.
– Convict Rezko, because he’s the only one on trial, to demonstrate their revulsion to how government operates in Illinois.
Could go either way.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:08 am
you missed a critical point made by the prosecutor.
“Schar reminded jurors that much of Levine’s testimony was backed up by conversations in 2004 that Levine had no idea the feds secretly recorded. Schar also pointed out that a man who got hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from one of Rezko’s and Levine’s alleged schemes, Joseph Aramanda, had no ties to Levine.”
If levine made this all up to avoid jail time, then how come the recordings made before Levine knew the feds were after him reference Rezko as the go to guy and supports levines testimony.
Also there were a number of additional witness who supported the evidence. I have seen jurys laugh along with an attorney right before they handed in the verdict against them.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:13 am
Regardless of what happens with Rezko, you gotta give a good nod to Duffy. From all indications the man is working his defense game at a high level. This has to be good PR for his practice.
Comment by zatoichi Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:22 am
Wordslinger - I think your option two is the correct one.
Comment by Leave a light on George Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:53 am
My sense of it is that Duffy counted too much on Levine being the whole case, and spent all his energy on Levine as a straw man. He didn’t do nearly as good a job attacking any of the other evidence or testimony. The pyramid is going to stand.
Rezko is going to be under it.
Comment by Gregor Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 12:33 pm
I agree with “Gregor” Duffy needs to be careful. there is more to the case then levine and the jury will get to review all the evidence again in private.
Comment by Just Because Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 12:49 pm
Sounds like Duffer is losing the jury….opps bad news for TR
Comment by Wild Bill Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 12:50 pm
Did he mention Ata?
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 1:50 pm
Niewoehner defiently mentioned Ata, and emphasized the tapes. He also made a good point that duffy was trying to distract them with Levines life, but they could just go back and listen to the tapes, which made no deals with the government, have not changed their story since they were made, and in which no one evinces any confusion about Rezko’s role.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 3:46 pm
So Duffy, I am to believe that this rich guy, who aligns himself with winners is a moron, a dupe for a drug addict.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Live at the Improv In Schaumburg
Duffy! 2 shows 6 & 9pm
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 4:27 pm
Gregor- great point what about all the other witnesses? What about Cari?
Comment by GofGelnview Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 5:47 pm
Paging Tony R. Paging Tony R. - Your private charter flight to points unknown is prepared to depart Gate 13. Serbia? Club Fed?
Comment by A Citizen Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 6:02 pm
If it were only Levine’s testimony, then I believe Rezco would have a 50-50 chance of being acquitted. But there were tapes, as well as corroborating testimony from a number of other people regarding Rezco’s machinations. Duffy’s cogent arguments aren’t going to do any good. The jury won’t buy the argument that Tony Rezco was Levine’s innocent dupe, and that all those other people were lying about poor Tony. Rezco’s failure to testify on his own behalf speaks volumes about his guilt. I think the Government would have had no trouble impeaching Rezco’s credibilty had he taken the stand. Guilty! Guilty!! Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!!!
Comment by Captain America Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 6:14 pm
GofG, Duffy had a polite, plausible explanation for Cari, that being deep depression following the loss of his wife and the effect of anti-depressants on Joe’s memory. (Right there was a premeditated sneaky trick; save the “Paxil causes memory loss” shot until the close, where you don’t have to put an expert up and defend the point.)
I think the Scud missile here was Ata. His presence and testimony certainly weren’t expected, and he may be the one who takes Tony down.
Those two young AUSAs (and their colleague who gave the opener) represented their office very effectively, and didn’t seem to be concerned about the PR value of any particular one line of their argument. (That notwithstanding, guys will be guys, even when they’re gals, and a couple of Schar’s in particular definitely will earn him some high fives on the fifth floor at Dirksen.
Comment by Fox Mulder Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 8:47 pm
Fox-
I think another closer may also be the money paid to JAA by Pekin? Pekin get’s a $50 million investment from TRS- Pays Rezko’s guy $400,000 some and then Rezko writes a check to a buddy out of the same account?
But then again Duffy had one for that too- Pekin is old and can’t remember stuff.
This stuff, you can’t make up…
Comment by GofGelnview Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:29 pm
For those trial junkies who can’t get enough…There’s another beauty on the docket for tomorrow-Hurtgen’s trial is to start.
While Kieferbaum and Levine pled guilty he’s the one who pled “not”- only problem the Hospital CEO was wearing a wire.
So starting tomorrow:
More Levine!
Maybe Hurtgen’s nose is cleaner?
Comment by GofGelnview Tuesday, May 13, 08 @ 11:38 pm