If Blagojevich gets off, will it hurt the prosecutor?

[Bluzmann57]

The prosecutor in this case being Pat Fitzgerald who was considered a hero in here not too long ago because he prosecuted Scooter Libby.
Imo, it may hurt Fitzgerald's credibility somewhat because he was hell bent on nailing Blago. But having said that, Blago is as crooked as they come and probably should be in jail. But the jury has been considering for almost two weeks and has stated that they are deadlocked on certain charges. So it looks like they may come in with a hung jury. And if so, Blagojevich's pub machine will kick into high gear and say that he told us so.
For more on this case, check nearly any Illinois newspaper or electronic media website.

[madrchsod]

1. it`s going to be really interesting....

the jury has come to a decision on two charges so far. then there`s the new trials of conard black and others that could have some direct effect on blago`s charges.

it`s illinois where candidates that are running for governor and senate pretty much suck.

Hare should take whiteside because he`s landed a huge va clinic for the sterling- rockfall area. i`m not sure if foster will keep the 14th.he porked almost 100,000 and a two block state federal highway designation for the streetand sidewalk repair that leads to the reagan statue that is the center of our 2+million state and federal highway funded waterfront...we used to smell the catfish when the river was low in august but that has`t happened in the 5-6 years but when the weather is just right...you can smell the 'pork' frying.

[saracat]

2. Every prosecutor loses cases. I don't see why it would "hurt " him. As for Blago

he is guilty of being a Chicago Pol. Might be nice to clean up the politics there but they would have to drag nearly ALL of them in. Rahm would be first in line and somehow, I think that isn't likely to happen. I think Fitzgerald, who is a R Repug, just threw the dice and took a gamble.I think Blag will be found guilty of a minor offense and walk, claiming victory . Fitzgerald will be congratulated for doing anything at all. But, hey, it could just as easily go the other way.Remember. protestations to the contrary, the jury is just as susceptible to the winds of political whim as are voters.

[Missy Vixen]

4. Patrick Fitzgerald is not a "R" repug

How much would you like to bet?

He specifically registered to vote as an independent, will not endorse candidates, and turned down the Republican Party's invitation to run against then-Senate candidate Barack Obama. The fact that Fitzgerald is apolitical has been well-documented in both the Chicago press and the national press. If you remember, he was on the hot seat with the former administration for NOT advancing their agenda with his office.

>I think Fitzgerald, who is a R Repug,<

Please explain to me why you made the above statement, and your proof that it's true.

-MV

[saracat]

17. The R was a typo. I assumed that Fitzgerald is a Republican because he was appointed by Bush at

reccomnndation of then GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. If you recall Bush appointed him in 2001 at thre reccomendation of then GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald(no relation).Bush politicized the appointment of Federal prosecutors and it lead very to a very public scandal. It would have been highly unusual if Fitzgerald were NOT a Republican at the time of his appointment.

[Missy Vixen]

20. Fitzgerald has said repeatedly in the press that he is apolitical

He deliberately registered to vote as an independent. When told that "Independent" was a political stance, he re-registered with no party specification.

Sen. Fitzgerald brought him into Chicago because he was an outsider, not beholden to anyone, and showed neither "fear nor favor" going after criminals, whether they have an R or a D behind their names.

"Bush politicized the appointment of federal prosecutors" -- if you will do a Google search, you will discover Patrick Fitzgerald's name came up more than once during the US Attorney purge hearings. The Bush administration wanted him fired for going after Republicans. They didn't succeed.

[saracat]

30. I still think it is likely he actually was an Republican st the time of his appointment.

I doubt Bush would have appointed him otherwise. He may be apolitical now. That has nothing to do with anything. Peter Fitzgerald suggested him because he wasn't from Chicago and he felt that would lead to less bias. The Bush WH was not likely to give a Federal appointment to a non Republican. And the Bush WH would have been particularly upset if one of their prosecutors pursued GOP politicians because they did politicize the Federal prosecutors to avoid just that. That was the reason they tried to get rid of Fitzgerald. They did get rid of a lot of Feds who were GOP and also refused to follow those dictates.
Here on DU many were very impressed by Fitzgerald because he was perceived as a hero for standing up to his own Party and the party that appointed him.

All this being said, I still don't think it will matter if he loses the Blago case.

[NNN0LHI]

3. That melodramatic news conference by Fitzgerald already makes him appear to be an idiot

If I were him I would be getting my resume updated.

Crime of the century my ass.

Don

[Missy Vixen]

6. I guess it's a good thing you're not serving as the US Attorney of Northern Illinois, then

I keep telling people here who believe they could do the job better to go to an Ivy League law school, spend 20 years working on cases for a fraction of the salary most attorneys make when graduating from law school, and oh, yeah, there's that little security problem.

Blago was framed, hm?

Hysterical.

PLEASE keep demonizing Patrick Fitzgerald. He's the only person who managed to win a conviction of the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing. He cleaned up a good portion of the mess in Chicago, and he continues to do so.

:eyes:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. Fail.

Fitz' moved so slowly on scooter, that he deliberately let the big fish escape. He was rightly criticized for it. Then, he jumped the gun . . . Badly. Blogo will walk, and it is all his fault.

[Missy Vixen]

29. Epic fail

There is such a thing as making sure one has appropriate evidence before taking a case to court. Then again, I'm sure brilliant legal minds think that's just a formality.

[murielm99]

5. I didn't consider him a hero for his prosecution of Libby.

I think Fitz did a poor job on the Libby prosecution. I wonder if many people even remember why Libby was on trial. If Fitz had waited and gathered more evidence, he could have gotten Libby on charges that would have made it more difficult for bush to commute his sentence. Was Fitz just going through the motions to convict a fellow republican, knowing that there would be some sort of Presidential modification of the jury's findings? I believe so.

I don't think Libby is nearly as good as his reputation. He has had plenty of time to nail Blago, too. I don't think he has done it. I think the Blago trial was poorly executed. What happened to all the witnesses they were going to call?

If Blago is found guilty of anything, it will be some of the more minor perjury charges. He may go to jail for a short time, and that will be all. In a couple of years, no one will remember. The Illinois republicans might trot out his name during election seasons for a short time, then it will be over.

If this hurts Fitz, it will serve him right.

So many Illinois governors go to jail that this is just routine for us. It's sort of amusing. For the most part, we have good career civil servants in our state that keep things running. We have some powerful people who are honest, or at least honest enough that they are not worth pursuing. Blago is the scapegoat du jour.

[Bluzmann57]

7. Ok ok. Not everyone considered him a "hero"

But a lot of people did simply because he prosecuted a member of the bush "administration".
Illinois politics fascinates me. I live in the QCA and have followed Illinois politics for some time simply because they are crazy at times. To tell you the truth, I miss Lane Evans. He was a great man who actually cared about the people of his district. Imagine that! A politician who actually tries to listen to his constituents.

[riderinthestorm]

16. I agree with you muriel. I think Fitz does just enough to be dangerous

to establishment pols without truly touching the powers that be. He looks good, he doesn't inflict permanent damage on the IL party machines, it's all good.

I too was less than impressed with the Libby prosecution.

We'll see how it pans out with Blago. I'll be disappointed, but not surprised, when Blago gets a guilty verdict on a couple of charges, skates on most, does a couple months in a country club type prison and it's all done. Patty walks. Robert walks. And the PTB remain unexamined.

[saltpoint]

8. I think it hurts Blago even worse than the trial hurt

him in the first place.

Those tapes do not paint the picture of a mature, fair, clear-headed, warm-hearted public servant. They suggest a brat, a spoiler, a fixer, and a jerk.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. If my opinion matters, I don't think Fitzgerald can be seen as any worse than I see him

He has consistently proved he is a choker, a moron, or a cover. He has not been on the side of the people. We all recall the famous kerfluffle over twenty four business hours or whatever time limit that idiot at Truthout wrote about Rove's impending indictment, but the fact is, Rove, Cheney, Bush, and all the rest walked when they could have actually been prosecuted.

That continues to this day.

But how about this? How about maybe Fitz sees the whole Blago thing as a failed attack on Obama and he's just putting it all to rest. Not saying I believe that. Just saying its possible.

Back to Fitz, I think he's waaaaaay over rated.

[Missy Vixen]

21. Stinky, I respect your opinions, but I'm wondering how you think

Cheney and Bush could have ever been indicted.

If you followed the Libby trial at all, you know that it almost got thrown out of court due to greymail. Greymail is classified intelligence information. Libby's defense tried desperately to introduce that intelligence information. The judge and Fitzgerald worked feverishly to keep it out. Fitzgerald was attempting to "flip" Libby. Libby was convicted, but unfortunately for all of us, Bush made sure he'd never see the inside of a jail cell. After all, if Libby was actually pardoned, he wouldn't be able to take the Fifth on the stand, and the games would be on.

Any indictment of Cheney or Bush would have never gone forward, especially over the Valerie Plame matter. The greymail issues would have had the judge throwing it out before the ink was even dry on the filing at the courthouse. Cheney wasn't called to testify against Libby, due to the fact that any appearance by him would have turned the trial into a three-ring circus.

If you don't believe me, you are free to read the analysis of what happened at FDL, specifically Marcy Wheeler's book on the subject. Christy Hardin Smith is a former federal prosecutor. One of their other commentators is a defense attorney. The New York Times cited FDL's coverage on their front page as the most exhaustive and accurate of any media source, due to the fact there were six people liveblogging at the courthouse each day.

I've heard people insist that Fitzgerald should have "indicted them anyway". Whether you agree or not, federal prosecutors file cases they know they can win, therefore making good use of the taxpayer's money. If you want to be angry with anyone, why not be angry with the party that has stonewalled all attempts to get to the bottom of what happened to Valerie Plame, and the fired US Attorneys?

[Skip Intro]

10. Not if he's wearing a raincoat.

I'm sorry. I am so sorry.

[TexasObserver]

11. Pat Fitzgerald couldn't hurt his reputation with a sledge hammer.

He's already blown the biggest case of this century, one which should have been as big as Watergate or bigger.

He's terrible.

[Taverner]

12. Free Blago!

Honestly, you are going for someone who is not as dirty as his colleagues!

He's not the tip of the iceberg, he's just a scrap of said 'berg.


I am a Californian.

If this is 'corruption' then you better be prepared for some work.

[LooseWilly]

14. Here here! Free Blago!

He may be corrupt, but he's such an idiot that he is at least entertaining... and that's sort of like getting your money's worth, right?

[kanrok]

13. As an ex-prosecutor

I am a big fan of Fitzgerald.

He is a straight shooter and generally unfazed by politics.

I do have some major criticisms of him and his office on the Blago case.

He never NEVER should have held the press conference he held when Blago was indicted.

IMHO it was unethical. (I don't like unethical)

I still don't understand why he spiked the Blago investigation before Jesse Jackson Jr. could be implicated on a wiretap.

It makes absolutely no sense to me.

It's been postulated that the prosecution held back evidence that they would have used to cross Blago.

If that's true, it is bush league.

If you have good evidence, use it in your case in chief. Don't bank on the defendant taking the stand.

If Blago skates on most of the charges, FItzgerald takes a hit.

Federal prosecutors (especially in an esteemed office like the Northern District of Illinois, IMHO the second best federal prosecutors office in the US, slightly behind the Southern DIstrict of New York) don't generally take cases unless they are dead-bang winners.

[riderinthestorm]

15. My gut feeling is he banked on Blago taking the stand.

And proving to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that he's corrupt just by his actions, words and implication of how Blago is. I know that's nebulous but those of us in IL understand that Blago's bloviating makes him look guilty as hell and if Fitz had gotten him on the stand, the jury would have been so repulsed the charges would have seemed more plausible.

As it is, once Blago declined to take the stand, Fitz essentially "lost".

They aren't deadlocked on 2 charges. They are deadlocked on 10. They have 11 more to debate. I'm guessing those two charges are guilty. Fitz looks like a hero for nailing ANY Chicago politician to the wall on any charge (and all Chicago pols are ALL corrupt dare I say it, including probably Obama with the Rezko thing. Nobody gets to the top of IL politics without stains.) I honestly don't think Fitz will take any hit at all if he can get Blago to jail for any length of time. That's all IL voters remember anyway - that he got sent away for some time period. Imho doesn't matter how long, its that he did some time in jail. Justice served for getting caught doing Chicago style politics - not that he actually WAS doing Chicago style politics, all's forgiven for that since it's status quo here - just that he got caught.

[seattleblue]

25. I am also an ex but now on the other side

I am not so much a big fan of Fitzgerald. I think he has gone after the middle level of corruption in Chicago and he has been successful with some of that. He went after Blago to get a big trophy but he overreached. I think he is a victim of reading too many of his press clippings. I don't believe Blago was guilty of most of what he was charged with and I hope he walks.

[PBS Poll-435]

18. Checkin' in!

:P

[KharmaTrain]

19. It's A Complex Case...

There are 24 counts with a bunch of sub counts...each has to be read and voted on...and its easy to get deadlocked, just one person can gum up the whole works. This is why the judge send a message to the jury about breaking apart the charges...meaning that the jury didn't have to come to consensus on all the charges...all they need is one to convict.

This has zero to do with Fitzgerald...he got evidence he felt was compelling enough to take to trial, a grand jury agreed and handed down the indictment. This is all about Blago and his malfesance and alleged criminality. I still see him being convicted on at least charge, but I could also see the conviction thrown out.

Even if its a hung jury or a "vindication", Blago has been convicted in the minds of voters in Illinois that he was a petty and lousy governor. He isn't getting his office back and his chances of ever being elected to any office short of dog catcher as highly improbable.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

26. Tis a complex prosecution. Tis not a complex case

Did he sell the office of US senate in exchange for personal gain?
No. Absolutely no evidence of it.

Did he want something Obama? possibly. Did anything of value exchange hands? Nope.
Did Jesse Jr's team consider paying $$$ to make him a senator? possibly. Is that a crime? probably not. Did anything of value exchange hands? Nope.

Is Blago an embarrassment to any Elvis fan? Yup.
Will he walk? most likely.
Did Fitz blow it by premature ejacu . . . . indictment and press release? In the immortal words of Caribou Barbie, "You betcha."

[KharmaTrain]

27. The Case In A Nutshell

The devil are in the details of the charges. It's the concept of quid pro quo. One could conjecture (which really doesn't mean squat in a court of law) that had Blago been given a little more time he would have taken money or other considerations. Again, it's in the wording of the indictments that I haven't seen but are what those jurors are battling over.

I said earlier that I expect Blago to walk...to many technicalities...and you state it well that these aren't iron-clad charges on the surface. Remember, indictments are sent out by a Grand Jury that did feel there was enough evidence to move this case forward.

[WolverineDG]

22. Prosecutors always indict on more charges than they can prove

they make a big noise about indicting someone (especially someone famous or powerful) on a bazillion charges, each one sounding pretty bad.....then once the dust has settled & everyone figures that the indicted person is guilty (otherwise, they wouldn't have been indicted, right?), the prosecutor quietly plea bargains for a couple of the lesser charges (usually conspiracy) & dismisses the rest.

Well, that's what usually happens, anyway.

dg

[Warren DeMontague]

23. You win for 'yuckiest unintended mental image associated with thread title'

Seriously. Ick.

[AngryAmish]

28. I think we all should be thankful he arrested Blago when he did

Imagine this: Jesse Jackson, Jr. as a Senator and his supporters giving 2 million to Blago....then he gets arrested. There would have been a quid pro quo. The case would be airtight. And we have a COnstitutional crisis. Can you seat a Senator who bribed his way into the office? There goes health care. Wall St. Stimulus(remember Minn. was not decided until summer 09). EVERYTHING.