Rezko trial set to start in Chicago
Mar. 3, 2008
Jeff Coen - Chicago TribuneIssue date: 2/28/08 Section: MCT News
In addition to an alleged $25,000-a-month drug habit, Levine, a longtime Republican fundraiser, schemed to steal money on other boards on which he served, including at least one charity, and only agreed to cooperate when he faced what amounted to a life sentence if he was convicted, the defense says.
Ronald Safer, a former federal prosecutor who represents a client in another criminal case in which Levine is cooperating, called the government's star witness "a walking crime wave."
"The government has to make its case independent of Levine, and they have to have Levine be the narrator," Safer said of the paradox facing the prosecution. "He can narrate the play, but if he is the play, they lose."
"The government needs to be able to say, `You can disbelieve everything that Levine says, or at least everything that only Levine says, and still convict Rezko,' " Safer said. "If they can't say that, they won't win."
Prosecutors are expected to emphasize that their evidence goes far beyond Levine, pointing to other players who took part in the kickback scheme. At least two others who have pleaded guilty_including Joseph Cari, a former finance director for the national Democratic Party_are expected to testify as well.
And the undercover recordings of Levine will be used to back up his account of events.
Fardon, now in private practice in Chicago, said he expects that prosecutors will bring in as many different pieces of the puzzle as they can to buttress Levine.
The trial is likely to take three months, lawyers in the case estimate.
"You corroborate, corroborate, corroborate," Fardon said. "You include all the documents and all the history and all the transcripts that specifically corroborate what (Levine) says happened."
"At the end of the day, they want to be able to say, `You don't just have to believe Stuart Levine,' " said Patrick Deady, a criminal-defense lawyer who took part in the 2006 trial of Mayor Richard Daley's former patronage chief and others.
Ronald Safer, a former federal prosecutor who represents a client in another criminal case in which Levine is cooperating, called the government's star witness "a walking crime wave."
"The government has to make its case independent of Levine, and they have to have Levine be the narrator," Safer said of the paradox facing the prosecution. "He can narrate the play, but if he is the play, they lose."
"The government needs to be able to say, `You can disbelieve everything that Levine says, or at least everything that only Levine says, and still convict Rezko,' " Safer said. "If they can't say that, they won't win."
Prosecutors are expected to emphasize that their evidence goes far beyond Levine, pointing to other players who took part in the kickback scheme. At least two others who have pleaded guilty_including Joseph Cari, a former finance director for the national Democratic Party_are expected to testify as well.
And the undercover recordings of Levine will be used to back up his account of events.
Fardon, now in private practice in Chicago, said he expects that prosecutors will bring in as many different pieces of the puzzle as they can to buttress Levine.
The trial is likely to take three months, lawyers in the case estimate.
"You corroborate, corroborate, corroborate," Fardon said. "You include all the documents and all the history and all the transcripts that specifically corroborate what (Levine) says happened."
"At the end of the day, they want to be able to say, `You don't just have to believe Stuart Levine,' " said Patrick Deady, a criminal-defense lawyer who took part in the 2006 trial of Mayor Richard Daley's former patronage chief and others.
Be the first to comment on this story