CHICAGO (AP) — Prosecutors at Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial wheeled three carts crammed with documents into court each day, making it easy to believe estimates that it could take more than two months to present their case to jurors.
Instead, it took them just five weeks, despite having dozens of possible witnesses and hundreds of wiretap recordings at their disposal. They were able to rest their case against the ousted Illinois governor Tuesday in large part because they didn’t call several potential key figures, including convicted political fixer Tony Rezko, whose testimony might just have easily hurt prosecutors as help them.
While prosecutors did not stop to speak to reporters as they left the courthouse, legal observers say it’s not uncommon for prosecutors to err on the side of overestimating the amount of time they’ll need.
“If you tell a judge, it’s going to take a month to present your case and it takes two — the judge is going to be pissed off,” said Michael Helfand, a Chicago attorney with no connection to the Blagojevich case.
Defense attorneys have a different explanation: Prosecutors simply didn’t have the sheer volume of evidence they once suggested they had.
Blagojevich attorney Sam Adam Sr. harkened back to remarks by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald following Blagojevich’s arrest two years ago that the alleged corruption the then-governor participated in would make another Illinois politician, President Abraham Lincoln, “roll over in his grave.”
“As far as I know — and we checked with the cemetery — Lincoln is still intact,” Adam said.
But Helfand says attorneys sometimes drop witnesses based on the strength of those who took the stand earlier. So, the speed with which prosecutors finished could indicate confidence, he said, rather than a lack of evidence.
Blagojevich, 53, has pleaded not guilty to 24 counts that include scheming to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat and plotting to launch a racketeering operation in the governor’s office. If convicted, he could face up to $6 million in fines and a sentence of 415 years in prison, though he is sure to get much less time under federal guidelines.
The most notable witnesses prosecutors did not call were one-time Blagojevich fundraisers Rezko and Stuart Levine. Levine admitted scheming to launch a $7 million kickback scheme and Rezko was convicted by a jury in the same case.
Prosecutors failed to call either to testify even while portraying them as important cogs in Blagojevich’s alleged systematic bid to make money from his actions as governor.
In earlier legal proceedings, Levine also admitted that for years he attended marathon drug parties. That unsavory past may also have made prosecutors reluctant to offer him up to jurors as a witness.
But Rezko and Levine have been mentioned enough that some attorneys think Blagojevich’s defense team will ask Judge James Zagel for a missing-witness instruction — in which it’s suggested to the jury that whatever Rezko or Levine would have said on the stand would have hurt the prosecution’s case.
In his opening statements, defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. portrayed Rezko as a sinister figure pulling strings in the shadows and hoodwinking the then-governor. He told reporters Tuesday he also has no intention of calling Rezko.
When Zagel ruled last month that he would not force prosecutors or defense attorneys to call Rezko, he said it was because Rezko is the kind of witness whose testimony might backfire.
The no-nonsense Zagel is another reason for the quicker-than-expected pace of the trial. He has kept delays to a minimum and pushed attorneys along when they seemed to become stuck on a line of questioning.
When Blagojevich attorney Aaron Goldstein repeatedly asked a witness the same question during cross examination on Monday, an exasperated Zagel snapped: “You can ask one more (question) and then you can sit down.”
The judge also has generally dealt quickly with objections, with little or no explanation.
“Zagel is an extremely efficient judge,” said Andy Shaw, executive director of the Better Government Association.
The government’s case has relied heavily on wiretap recordings, with prosecutors showing Blagojevich spewed a river of profanity while lavishing money on his wardrobe and ducking his job as governor.
Jurors heard Blagojevich on several tapes sounding desperate to land a well-paying job, often turning discussions about potential Senate seat candidates into questions about what he could get out of it personally.
They also heard from former Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris, who said the governor told him he had sent word to Obama in November 2008 through a labor union leader that he would name Obama family friend Valerie Jarrett to the Senate seat if the new president would name him secretary of health and human services.
Blagojevich fumed on another recording, cursing Obama and his staff for apparently rebuffing his overtures.
The former governor’s brother, Nashville, Tenn., businessman Robert Blagojevich, has pleaded not guilty to five counts, including taking part in the alleged Senate seat scheme and plotting to shake down businessmen for campaign funds.
His attorneys rarely took part in cross-examination, only a few times asking witnesses to confirm that their client wasn’t sitting in on a meeting or taking part in a phone call. Their lack of participation in proceedings also allowed prosecutors to get their witnesses off the stand faster.