The court engaged in improper credibility rulings and findings of fact during the closing argument and did so in the presence of the jury. These are issues for the jury to resolve – not the court. This was a violation of the rights of Rod Blagojevich and a mistrial is warranted.
As an example, the motion cites the testimony of Bill Quinlan and Pat Magoon, showing the testimony matched what Adam told the jury they said.
To continuously interrupt defense counsel to argue which inference from the evidence is “correct” was wholly improper. The court should have at the very least simply instructed the jury that they will decide the facts and attorneys‟ arguments are not evidence. Instead, the court sanctioned the government‟s obstructionist behavior and endorsed it to the jury.
The motion goes on to attack the prosecutors' motives:
The government objected to Attorney Adam around three dozen times. The objections were intended only to obstruct and disrupt the closing argument. The government‟s objections were disingenuous and misleading.
One example of the disingenuous nature of the government‟s arguments is that during the government‟s opening-closing argument, (aside from making blatant misstatements of law and fact, for example, that Rod Blagojevich had no right to seek a campaign contribution from Pat Magoon), Attorney Niewoehner put edited segments of jury instructions on the projector.
Then, the government had the audacity to object to Attorney Adam reading from a jury instruction during his closing arguments. When the government objected, the court instructed Attorney Adam to read the entire instruction.
Then, later, during the rebuttal-closing argument, Attorney Schar tried to read a small portion of an instruction. These tactics by the government were meant only to prejudice the jury, to obstruct the defense closing argument, to attempt the defense from making an effective closing argument.
Team Blago also accuses the court of preferential treatment during closing arguments, applying a different standard to each:
The court‟s sanctioning of this strategy by the government is evinced by the court‟s rulings during the rebuttal-closing argument of Attorney Schar. When defense counsel objected to Attorney Schar, on at least two occasions the court ruled, “This one he gets to finish before I make the ruling on it.” Then, moments later, Attorney Schar argued that “There were a lot of other victims outside the ones you heard in this case.” Counsel objected and the court told Attorney Schar “Finish this one too.”
The court overruled the objection despite the fact that this argument goes against the evidence. Each alleged [attempt] extortion or bribe resulted in the agency or the program receiving their respective money, grant, or project.
When Attorney Schar argued, „Take a step back and decide how should this have been done in the office of governor?‟ Defense counsel objected, yet Attorney Schar continued on for several more sentences or thoughts. Later, Attorney Schar argued, “Can you imagine if he had gotten it wrong, the consequences of that?” Defense counsel objected, and the court overruled that objection.
Contrast these examples with Attorney Adam‟s closing argument which was halted when Attorney Adam began to reference an inference or apparent speculation with the jury regarding the evidence regarding $400,000 on suits/clothing. The court sustained the government‟s objection and even when Attorney Adam asked the court to be able to complete his sentence, this was not permitted by the court.
Defense counsel was prevented from going into a number of appropriate areas during closing arguments. Defendant Rod Blagojevich moves for a mistrial based on the reasons contained in the Motion to Reconsider Missing Witness Instruction or in the alternative Allow Defense Counsel to Argue the Government‟s Failure to Call Relevant Witnesses, within this motion, and within the oral arguments made before the court on these issues.
Team Blago doesn't expect these motions to be granted, it's just making an appellate record. From the media reports I've read on the closings, most reporters think Sam Adam, Jr. was not effective and Blago will be convicted.
I think Robert stands a fair chance of being acquitted. As to Rod, he needs to be hoping for a stealth juror that wouldn't convict no matter what the evidence was. I think this is mostly due to the trial court's pre-trial and trial restrictions on evidence Blago could introduce, what he could raise and not raise during the trial, and the jury instructions which work against him.
