Legal News

Blagojevich Wants Tapes Played in Court

By (Breaking Legal News)

When his corruption trial begins in June, Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, wants jurors to be allowed to hear all of the audio recordings ? some 500 hours? worth ? that federal authorities secretly made of his telephone conversations.

In papers filed here on Wednesday, Mr. Blagojevich asked Judge James B. Zagel of Federal District Court to allow far more than just snippets of the calls, some of which have been made public.

?Play all the tapes,? Mr. Blagojevich told reporters after a hearing. He said that he planned to testify at his trial, and that all the tapes ? not just parts ? would provide the full picture and prove his innocence. ?Play the truth, and play the whole truth,? he said.

A lawyer for Mr. Blagojevich, Sam Adam Jr., said jurors did not necessarily have to hear all of the tapes, which were made in Mr. Blagojevich?s home and campaign offices and on cellphones in the three months leading up his arrest in December 2008 on bribery, racketeering and a host of other charges.

But, Mr. Adam said, the defense team does want to play any parts that are related to the charges against Mr. Blagojevich or that give context to any of his statements on the tapes.

That prospect, political analysts here said, was likely to cause queasiness for Illinois politicians, some of whom are thought to be heard on those audio recordings and might have hoped their comments would never become public. In a year when the state is electing a new governor and a United States senator, such an open airing of hundreds of hours of tapes ? even for those who did nothing criminal ? might be especially awkward.

Full post as published by Breaking Legal News on February 11, 2010 (boomark / email).