Legal Commentary

Supreme Court Refuses Former Gov. Ryan Appeal, Rezko Jury Still Out

By Jeralyn

The Supreme Court today refused to consider the appeal of former Illinois Governor George Ryan, who is serving a 6 1/2 year sentence on corruption charges.

In other Chicago corruption trial news, the Tony Rezko jury is still deliberationg. They've been meeting part-time over the past 14 days, putting in only 6 days of deliberations. But they must know they're slacking off. Today's reason for cutting out early after four days off was that a juror had a job interview to go to. In a note, the jury wrote:

the jury told the judge in the second part of its note that it will be working until 5:50 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The longer hours were "to help conclude our decision," the jury note said.

Friday is a no-deliberate day as one has child care problems that day. [More...]

A few states away, closing arguments are ongoing in Geoff Fieger's trial. Gerry Spence gave a "very theatrical" closing.

“If the government can do this to Mr. Fieger, the government can do this to any of us,” Spence said. He said the government prosecutors built their case on snippets, based on looking at Fieger with “the evil eye.” He said the government’s case was based on half truths, and political motivations. “If it’s a snippet, let’s nip it,” Spence urged jurors.

....If the contributions were illegal, Spence asked jurors, why didn’t Edwards’ return them and the IRS give back the federal taxes the firm paid on the bonuses? Spence said Fieger was a government trophy. “Jurors are the last wall against invading tyranny,” Spence said, urging them to acquit his client.

Spence told the jury this will be his last trial.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 27, 2008 (boomark / email).