Blagojevich trial lawyers ask to play more than 100 undercover recordings, Senate seat controversy

“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

From the Chicago Tribune February 14, 2011.

“Lawyers for Rod Blagojevich asked a federal judge Monday to let them play more than 100 undercover recordings at the former governor’s retrial, maintaining they disprove the heart of the government’s charges that he was trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat.

Within a few hours, the prosecution fired back, calling the request a “redux” of arguments from the first trial and questioning Blagojevich’s intentions.

“It is unclear what purpose the defendant’s motion serves other than to potentially influence prospective jurors,” the government wrote.

Blagojevich’s legal team also accused the government in its filing of trying to sway public opinion, calling prosecution assertions at the time of his arrest that Blagojevich was selling the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama a “sensationalized false narrative” that “tainted the jury pool.”
Jurors deadlocked on 23 of the 24 counts against Blagojevich in his first corruption trial last summer, finding him guilty on one count of lying to federal investigators. He faces a retrial on April 20 on the 23 counts on which the jury deadlocked.

The defense team contends the 115 undercover recordings would show jurors that Blagojevich was not trying to sell the Senate seat but rather was negotiating a political deal to name Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the spot.”

“In a separate filing Monday, Blagojevich also asked Zagel to order that Antoin Rezko and Stuart Levine, both convicted of wrongdoing in the Blagojevich probe, be made available for questioning by the former governor’s attorneys because both might be “crucial witnesses for the prosecution” at the retrial. Neither, however, testified at the first trial, and the government hasn’t revealed if they will be called at the retrial.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-blagojevich-defense-recordings20110214,0,6418023.story

I agree with the following statement:

“Blagojevich’s legal team also accused the government in its filing of trying to sway public opinion, calling prosecution assertions at the time of his arrest that Blagojevich was selling the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama a “sensationalized false narrative” that “tainted the jury pool.””

The Citizen Wells blog has consistently stated that the alleged selling of the senate seat was a clever diversion from the many years of corruption that Blagojevich, Rezko, Levine and Obama were involved in.

Do you suppose that the defense team is ready to throw Obama under the bus?

“In a separate filing Monday, Blagojevich also asked Zagel to order that Antoin Rezko and Stuart Levine, both convicted of wrongdoing in the Blagojevich probe, be made available for questioning by the former governor’s attorneys because both might be “crucial witnesses for the prosecution” at the retrial.”