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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JBTFD who wrote (125593)	6/2/2008 5:14:39 PM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 173976

Rezko jury locked on one count By Joseph Ryan \| Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 6/2/2008 2:48 PM \| Updated: 6/2/2008 2:51 PMSend To: The jury deliberating the fate of former state political powerbroker Antoin "Tony" Rezko sent the judge a note today stating it "cannot decide on one count" of the 24 charges filed. Judge Amy St. Eve responded by reading a standard legal document addressing such situations saying, "you should make every reasonable effort to reach a verdict" on each individual count. She said each individual count must have a unanimous verdict. She urged jurors to go back into deliberations and give "fair and equal consideration to the facts of the trial." Jurors entered their third week of deliberations today following a two-month trial over whether Rezko was involved with a range of corrupt pay-to-play political activities. Prosecutors alleged Rezko, in cahoots with a handful of other insiders, used his clout with Blagojevich to strong-arm $8 million in kickbacks from businesses seeking to invest teacher pensions and build suburban hospitals. But defense attorneys targeted the prosecution's key witness as a drug abuser and con man who framed Rezko to shave years off his own prison term. They also pounced the prosecution's lack of evidence putting bribe money in Rezko's pockets. Lead defense attorney Joseph Duffy didn't present any defense evidence or put on his own witnesses, declaring that the prosecution didn't meet its burden of proof. During the trial, federal prosecutors detailed a bipartisan cadre of corrupt insiders who even hoped to thwart investigators late in the game by pulling strings in the White House to oust U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Prosecutors fingered Rezko as the cadre's leader who leaned on Blagojevich in 2003 and 2004 to appoint associates to obscure state boards so they could influence billions of dollars in state investment business and the placement of new hospitals. At the Teachers Retirement System, witnesses testified that several firms agreed to share so-called 'finder's fees' with whomever Rezko or Stuart Levine designated in order to invest hundreds of millions of dollars for the massive pension fund. Levine, a member of both state boards involved, pleaded guilty and served as the prosecution's star witness. In one case, prosecutors alleged, a firm owned by the producer of 'Million Dollar Baby' was to pay $1.5 million to Blagojevich's campaign fund. In another case, Blagojevich's father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Dick Mell was to receive a cut. That plan didn't materialize and Mell denies the allegation. On the Health Facilities Planning Board, Levine and Rezko worked to extort bribes from a construction company and hospital CEO who was pushing to build facilities in Crystal Lake and Plainfield. Edward Hospital CEO Pam Davis turned to investigators during the extortion scheme. The verdict against Rezko may influence a much wider federal investigation of political corruption in Illinois. Fitzgerald - who sent former Gov. George Ryan to prison for corruption and convicted mob bosses - is also probing hiring and other pay-to-play allegations in the Blagojevich administration. The federal prosecutor is also reportedly eyeing the lucrative real estate dealings of the governor's wife, Patti. A second Blagojevich insider, Chris Kelly, has been indicted for tax evasion tied to illegal gambling. Several allegations against the governor came out in testimony, including that he traded high-level positions for campaign cash and told a prospective fundraiser he would award state contracts in exchange for campaign cash. One witness, former Illinois Finance Authority director Ali Ata, said he paid $25,000 in bribes to Rezko to pay for work on the governor's Chicago home. The governor, who was elected on a reform platform following Ryan, has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. Rezko, however, reaches well beyond the governor. Since the early 1990s, the Syrian-born, U.S. citizen has been a key fundraiser for both Chicago and Cook County politicians as well as a close friend to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential front runner. Obama has acknowledged Rezko helped raise about $250,000 for his state senate and U.S. Senate campaigns. And Illinois' junior senator hasn't been able to shake suspicions over Rezko's roll in Obama's purchase of a Hyde Park home. Rezko bought an adjacent vacant lot at the same time Obama purchased the house in 2005. Rezko later sold a piece of the lot to Obama so he could expand his side yard. Obama called the move "boneheaded" but has said nothing improper or illegal occurred in the dealings. dailyherald.com