Stating that "the time for accountability is now," prosecutor Reid Scar wrapped up the government's case against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich with a final rebuttal.
The jury was excused and will return at 9 a.m. Wednesday to receive instructions and begin deliberating on the 24 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, attempted extortion facing the well-coifed one.
Earlier Tuesday, Defense Attorney Sam Adam Jr. delivered an impassioned, boisterous and often loud defense of his inimitable client.
For just over an hour and a half the bespectacled lawyer paced the courtroom drenched in sweat and harangued the jury about how misguided the government's case has been. Along the way he ...
Defended the governors penchant for expensive clothing:
"You know why he spent $400,000 on suits in six years?" Adam thundered. "Because he's a politician. A CEO for the state of Illinois. He's on the front page of the paper every day. They have media every day. You gotta look the part."
Claimed the governor is a hard working taxpayer:
"He's paying for his own prosecution! This is crazy!"
And said the former governor was a product of his environment:
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"Kickback for work is a job, man!" Adam Jr. screamed.
"Nobody's going to say he's the sharpest knife in the drawer," Adam Jr. told the jury. "But he's not a crook ..."
Then, pivoting to a whisper, Adam Jr. said: "find this man not guilty."
The prosecution objected to his theatrics 18 times before he ended his presentation with a tape which contained the voice of Deputy Governor Bob Greenlee.
"I'm very concerned," Greenlee says on the audio recording. "I think it is very real ... People want to take you down for political reasons."
But for the prosecution, those tapes set the stage for a guilty verdict.
"The witnesses aren't lying. The tapes aren't lying. What you heard here is exactly what it appears to be," Schar said.
Illinois' former First Lady, Patti Blagojevich, was in tears as she hugged her sister-in-law after court was recessed. When leaving the 25th floor courtoom, Rod Blagojevich had a brief message for the few spectators: "Hope you have a prayer left for us."
