Judge Admonishes Blagojevich Attorneys Again
UPDATED 05/12/11 6:45 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The judge in Rod Blagojevich's corruption retrial again has warned defense attorneys not to make arguments while questioning witnesses, or he might cut short their closing argument when the trial ends.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel has repeatedly cut off defense questions when attorneys have used the tactic of arguing their case while asking a witness a question.
Zagel said judges usually let lawyers get away with that for a while, but only to a point.
"It is a common practice for lawyers to ask questions that they know are improper because they might suggest something to a jury," Zagel said, comparing the improper questions to bites from a dog.
"The dog is allowed a bite. Actually, the dog in most federal courtrooms is allowed two or three bites," Zagel said, noting that he gave defense attorneys much more leeway with questions at the first trial.
"All the bites that could possibly be allowed in this case were allowed in the original trial," Zagel added. "You're out of bites."
It wasn't the last admonishment from the judge on Thursday.
Thursday afternoon, prosecutors were questioning Blagojevich's longtime friend and adviser John Wyma about allegations that the governor was trying to squeeze Children's Memorial Hospital CEO Patrick Magoon for campaign cash in exchange for additional state funding for the hospital.
Wyma said that, as Blagojevich was talking to a group of advisers about who should approach Magoon to ask for the contribution, the governor said he "wanted to maintain a line between fundraising and government."
But, according to Wyma, the governor meant "he didn't want to directly ask the hospital for money" and thought it would be better for someone not directly tied to his administration to make the request for campaign cash.
Defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky stood up and objected, calling Wyma's description of the conversation a "warped, slanted interpretation" of Blagojevich's words.
Zagel again warned the defense team that those kinds of comments should only be made in closing arguments and if they kept it up, he would take away time from their closing argument.
Wyma Explains Why He Tipped Off The Feds
Wyma was another key witness for the federal investigation of Blagojevich, as he testified Thursday how he went to the feds to tell them about a number of Blagojevich's alleged shakedown attempts. He was cooperating with federal authorities for nearly two months before the governor's arrest in December 2008.
Wyma testified about three of the governor's alleged attempts to get campaign cash in exchange for official actions, including Blagojevich's alleged attempt to force then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel to hold a fundraiser – or get his brother, Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel to hold one – in exchange for releasing a state grant for a charter school in Emanuel's district.
According to Wyma, either Blagojevich or his then-chief of staff Lon Monk asked him to go to Emanuel in 2005 to ask for the fundraiser, but he didn't do it – at least, not right away.
"I thought it was wrong to ask (Emanuel) for money while aid was being kind of dangled," Wyma said. Instead, he waited until he knew the grant issue had been resolved and then asked Emanuel for a fundraiser.
Prosecutors have contended that Blagojevich ultimately relented and released the money to the school without getting anything from Emanuel.
Three years later when Wyma, now a lobbyist, had been slapped with a subpoena involving his clients. But before he could meet with the feds, he learned about two other alleged shakedown attempts.
According to Wyma, at an Oct. 6, 2008, meeting at Blagojevich's campaign office, the governor informed him that he was moving forward with a $1.8 billion tollway improvement project and was thinking of pushing a much larger project sometime later.
But first, Blagojevich said he wanted to approach road building executive Gerald Krozel to get him to help raise $500,000 in campaign cash from other construction firms that would benefit from the tollway projects.
"If they don't perform, f*** 'em," Wyma said Blagojevich told him.
Two days later, Blagojevich talked to Wyma about Children's Memorial Hospital, one of Wyma's clients. Wyma had been working to help the hospital get more state funding by pushing for the state to increase the reimbursement rate it provided to pediatric doctors for treating Medicaid patients.
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The governor told Wyma that he had agreed to move forward with the rate hike, which would provide the hospital with $8 million in additional state funding. But Blagojevich also said he wanted to approach Children's Memorial CEO Patrick Magoon for a $50,000 campaign contribution, according to Wyma.
But Wyma said he thought it was a bad idea. He claimed he told the governor that, not only was $50,000 too much money to expect from Magoon or the hospital, but "the timing was terrible" since the hospital was seeking additional state funding at the time.
By that time, Wyma had already decided he was going to talk to the FBI about the subpoena he'd received, but the governor's ideas "accelerated my desire to talk to the government."
Wyma said he told the feds about each of the governor's plans for getting campaign cash. They wanted him to wear a wire when he went back to the campaign office for a fundraising meeting on Oct. 22, but Wyma refused.
"I didn't feel that I was going to wear a wire, I found it distasteful," Wyma said. "I hadn't done anything wrong and the notion of wearing a wire made me very uncomfortable."
Defense Challenges Children's Memorial Allegations
Earlier in the day, defense Attorney Goldstein also sought to poke holes in the prosecution's case that Blagojevich put a stop to the additional state funding he'd agreed to provide Children's Memorial Hospital when the governor couldn't get the campaign cash he wanted.
Former deputy governor Bob Greenlee has testified that the hospital had requested a rate increase for the money the state provided to the hospital for treating Medicaid patients.
He said that around late September or early October 2008, Blagojevich told him to move forward with the rate hike, but two months later told him to hold it back.
On tape, Blagojevich was heard asking Greenlee "The pediatric doctors, the reimbursement, has that gone out yet or is that still on hold?"
The governor also said, "So we could pull it back if we needed to, budgetary concerns, right?"
Greenlee said he believed the governor was telling him to put the rate increase on hold and rehearsing what he'd say publicly if asked why the rate increase was being held up.
But on cross-examination, Goldstein focused on repeated questions that Blagojevich never explicitly told Greenlee to stop the rate increase.
"Did you request any clarification of the governor?" Goldstein asked.
"I didn't believe I needed any clarification," Greenlee said.
Earlier, he had also testified that he feared if he didn't do what the governor asked, he could be fired.
When Goldstein asked if Greenlee was concerned that he might have been doing the wrong thing by holding up the rate increase, Greenlee said no.
"I clearly understood what he was trying to communicate, or I believed I did," he testified.
Greenlee has also testified that Blagojevich called him again a couple weeks later and again told him to hold up the rate increase, because Children's Memorial Hospital had fired Blagojevich's friend, John Wyma, as their lobbyist.
Goldstein confronted Greenlee with the FBI notes of a Feb. 23 interview Greenlee had with federal agents and prosecutors in which he said "It is possible" that Blagojevich told him a second time to hold up the rate increase, implying Greenlee was unsure of the governor's orders.
Greenlee said he didn't recall exactly what he said during that FBI interview, but maintained that he was confident Blagojevich had told him to block the rate increase.
FBI Agent: Blago Had Campaign Office Swept For Bugs
prosecutors recalled FBI Agent Daniel Cain to the stand. Cain testified that, after a Chicago Tribune report revealed that Blagojevich adviser John Wyma was cooperating with the federal investigation and that federal agents had Blagojevich on tape, the governor had his campaign office swept for bugs.
Jurors also heard a tape of Robert Blagojevich, the governor's brother and campaign manager, talking about the development with Chrissy Jacobs, an administrative assistant for the campaign.
"Well, I'm freakin' out," Jacobs said in the Dec. 5, 2008, conversation.
"Well, don't," Robert Blagojevich said. "I mean it, there's always something new every day we gotta deal with."
Jacobs said she wanted to talk to Robert about the Tribune article, but he said they should wait.
"We've had the place swept. I'd rather not talk on the phone," Robert said.
Cain did not mention a Chicago Sun-Times report earlier this year that top Illinois State Police officials helped the FBI place the bugs in the Blagojevich campaign office and, when Blagojevich ordered the office swept for bugs, they helped make sure the bugs weren't detected.
Todd Feurer, cbschicago.com
