Blagojevich: A Grand Finale of Theatrics in the Court

At about 3:20 a.m. on Tuesday, the first person in a line of more than 60 people for the closing arguments in the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial was Dan Bender, a 64-year-old Chicago retiree who once owned a trucking business on the South Side of Chicago and has been writing legal briefs as a researcher for the past 15 years. “I wanted to come see this,” he says. “The courtroom is theater, and a high-profile case like this is about as theatrical as it gets. It’s the seventh game of the World Series, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. Or the Super Bowl. Only it’s one hundred times more rare.” In fact, only about 25 public tickets would be handed out.

Bender and those fortunate enough to snag a ticket would be more than satisfied with the theatrics. There was fire-and-brimstone rhetoric from Blagojevich’s defense attorney, Sam Adam Jr. (an expertise honed during Adam’s successful defense of R&B star R. Kelly, who was acquitted of child-pornography charges in 2008); the defendant’s staring-down of the prosecutor; laughter in the courtroom and admonitions from the judge; and finally, Blagojevich’s wife’s exit in tears.

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“There is a big pink elephant in the room, and everybody knows it,” Adam began, apparently referencing the unfulfilled promise from his opening statement that the former Illinois governor would testify. Adam apologized. “I may not be bright, I may be a fool, but I gave you my word,” he said, telling the jury to blame him for not allowing Blagojevich to take the stand. “I didn’t come up here in my opening statement and lie to you. I had no idea that in two months of trial, [the government] would prove nothing.”

Adam declared that the expletive-filled FBI wiretaps of Blagojevich didn’t prove anything criminal — certainly, he said, nothing to convict the former governor on 24 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, bribery and extortion charges, which could amount to 415 years in prison and $6 million in fines. The fault, Adam said, lies with Blagojevich’s inner circle, which did not provide him with proper advice and enabled his talk of seeking political benefits from the power of his office. (One of those in the circle is Blagojevich’s older brother Robert, a co-defendant, who has a separate legal team and faces 90 years and a $1.25 million fine for five counts of wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion and bribery conspiracy.)

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“The governor of the state of Illinois has a responsibility to you, to you and you,” Adam boomed as he pointed at the jurors. “Thousands of responsibilities.” And with such a weight upon him, Adam continued, Blagojevich had to rely on the advice of well-educated aides like former deputy governor Bob Greenlee, a Yale graduate. Adam then ridiculed Greenlee as a yes-man who tried to disagree by agreeing, a disservice to the former governor. Adam used similar tropes to cast blame on a host of Blagojevich aides whom he said should have been stopgaps for the former governor, providing sound legal advice.

Adam said Blagojevich wasn’t capable of the crimes he is charged with, saying the former governor was “not the sharpest knife in the drawer” and was an insecure talker who did only that: talk — about everything from his jealousy of President Obama to the potential decisions he could make. He was not capable of doing more, said Adam. “Is the [former] governor silly? No doubt,” Adam said. “Jealous of President Barack Obama? Certainly, but he ain’t corrupt.” Was Blagojevich guilty of trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat and extort the President of the United States? Said Adam: “Give me a break.”

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At one point, Adam went off on a tangent and railed at the top of his lungs a story about an Italian grandmother whose mule keeps stumbling while pulling a cart. “Thattsa one! Thattsa two! Thattsa three!” Adam bellowed. The grandmother then shoots the mule dead after its third misstep, to which her husband says, “Thattsa stupid. ” The old woman replies, “Thattsa one.” It was a metaphor, Adam said, for the government’s case. The courtroom erupted into laughter, prompting Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar to stand up and tell Judge James Zagel, “This is totally inappropriate.”

Zagel tried to restore order in the courtroom and reminded Adam not to turn the trial into a circus. Schar objected every few minutes, for a total of more than 20 times, challenging with a hoarse voice what he said were constant misstatement of fact by Adam. Zagel agreed almost always with Schar.

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When the prosecution came up for its final argument, Schar shot down Adam’s contentions by saying that Blagojevich surrounded himself with policy people who also had legal degrees — not with lawyers. And he reminded the jury that Blagojevich, too, was a lawyer. “This guy had more training in criminal background than the average lawyer. Somehow he is the accidentally corrupt governor? I mean, come on. Come on,” Schar said to the jury, trying to elevate his raspy voice with sips of water. “He is the decisionmaker. He is the governor. He is the one who makes the ultimate decision.” He summed up the defense’s argument with incredulity: “It’s everyone’s fault but the defendant. That is not how it works. It is no one’s job to stop him from committing these crimes. It is his job.”

And, said Schar, “talking is more than enough to commit a crime … even if, say, a person only talks about robbing a bank but doesn’t actually rob it. Legally, it’s called a step in furtherance, something that furthers the potential act of a conspiracy crime.”

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“He’s not stupid,” said Schar, citing Blagojevich’s personal and political problems as motives for the alleged crimes. “He’s very smart. He didn’t get twice elected as governor for the state of Illinois by accident. He knows how to talk in 30-second sound bites. He’s good at it. He does that for a living because he’s a professional communicator. He knows how to tie the two together. He knows how to communicate without making it too blatant.”

Accountability for action, Schar told the jury, “is the first lesson we teach our kids.” At this point, Blagojevich zeroed in on Schar, elbows on the table, his hands up in prayer fashion, a triangle in front of his face. But the moment was Schar’s: “We are responsible for our own actions … The evidence in this case has proven both these defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We ask that you provide a guilty verdict on all counts. The time for accountability for these defendants is now.”

The day was punctuated by tears. Midway through the session, Blagojevich’s daughter Amy, 14, asked her mother Patti why such things were being said about her father, and rushed into Patti’s arms for a hug during a break. She was later escorted out of the courtroom by her aunt Deb Mell, an Illinois state representative. Patti herself was in tears moments after the session ended, sobbing in the arms of her sister-in-law, much like her daughter had done just hours earlier. A few minutes later, the former governor kissed his wife’s cheek. They made their way out of the courtroom, and Blagojevich began shaking hands with the spectators. One of them, Diane Phillips, shouted out, “Good luck, your honor,” as he neared an elevator. With a knowing look, Blagojevich said to her, “I hope you have an extra prayer for us.”

Judge Zagel is expected to charge the jury on Wednesday.

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