Could the Illinois Governor Walk? Corruption, Rough Talk & Wiretaps

If you’ve been tuned in this week you could probably recite the accusations against the Illinois Governor in your sleep, not to mention the bleeping quotes.  Much of the allegations stem from recordings made of the governor’s own phone calls.  Solid case, right?

Well, maybe, but maybe not.

Interesting interview from NPR of Stanley Brand, a defense lawyer who once worked for Chicago Congressman Dan Rostenkowski (Listen to the interview here). 

In short, the case against Blagojevich is a pretty strong one.  But here are some of Brand’s thoughts as related to Steve Inskeep of NPR:

Mr. BRAND: Yeah, I guess my theory of defense from, you know, 30,000 feet, as they say, would be to put this all in context in front of a jury and say, you know, this all sounds very scurrilous and untoward. However, nothing ever happened. No one got any money. No one got a job. And it’s distasteful, but it didn’t rise to a crime.

INSKEEP: You can say that because prosecutors interrupted it. But can’t prosecutors say there was clearly a conspiracy here, and the only reason no one got a job is because we stopped it?

Mr. BRAND: Sure, that’s the government’s side of the case that the conspiracy doesn’t have to be completed and have its end achieved for it to be a conspiracy that’s illegal under federal law. So that’s where you have the horse race.

And then there is the issue of the wiretapping:

Mr. BRAND: "There are always issues about how the government conducted the investigation, whether some of this evidence actually will get into evidence, and you’re better off fighting to get some leverage."