ROD BLAGOJEVICH FORGOT 'SO HELP ME GOD'

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KATHY POSNER FIGURES OUT
THE BLAGOJEVICH TAPES
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Rod Blagojevich

Former Governor Rod Blagojevich was arraigned in Federal Court on Wednesday to revised federal corruption charges where he plead “not guilty” and his lawyers filed a petition requesting that all of the secretly recorded tapes be played for the jury.Blagojevich said, "Today I’m throwing down the gauntlet. I know I have a constitutional right to try to suppress these tapes. And as a former prosecutor I believe there's a good chance that it would probably be granted. Here’s what I'm not going to do: I'm not going to hide behind my lawyers, nor will I hide behind technicalities in the law to try to block these tapes from being heard. Instead, I've instructed my lawyers to petition the court so that every second, every minute and every hour that the government secretly taped me is provided to both sides to be played in court. And I challenge the government to get on the side of truth and justice and if this is a crime spree like you claim it was, then don’t hide behind technicalities. Play the tapes. Play the truth, and play the whole truth. Play nothing but the truth." It is easy for Blagojevich to say that he wants the tapes played; but there are more than 500 hours of tapes. If the jury were to listen to them for 5 hours a day it would take twenty straight weeks or five months just to hear the audio part of the trial. Would a judge subject people to that kind of torture? I spoke to two attorneys, Brian Troglia (Stahl, Cowen) and Ed Grossman (Chicago Legal Clinic) and asked their opinions on whether the judge would have the jury listen to all the tapes.For the non-attorneys who read my blog, the following is an education in legal matters. They both explained to me about a motion in limine (Latin: "at the threshold"). This is a motion made before the start of a trial requesting that the judge rule that certain evidence may, or may not, be introduced to the jury in a trial . This is done in judge's chambers, or in open court, but always out of hearing of the jury. If a question is to be decided in limine, it will be for the judge to decide what is admissible.They both felt that the Judge would ask both sides to, in a sense, “sharpen their pencils,” and limit the scope of the tapes needed to be played. So Blagojevich can ask for all the tapes to be played; but he probably would not get it. (I hope I explained this to the lawyer’s satisfaction!)I agree with Blagojevich that the tapes should be heard in their entirety. His lawyers could upload them on the Internet and we could all listen to them. A transcript would be fun to read; I am sure his lawyer’s must have one and they could share.When Blagojevich likened the playing of all the tapes to the oath one takes before they testify or give evidence, he called for “the truth” (what he has experienced); “the whole truth” (leave nothing out) and “nothing but the truth” (he won’t tell any lies).He forgot to include, “So help me God.” Without that phrase he won’t have to worry about being struck down by the righteous wrath of the Lord when he lies. And we know he will lie.
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