Road building, Patti’s job and Jesse Jackson Jr. too
July 7, 2010 at 9:53 pm
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Memo to DOJ- re: preparing witnesses who’s story has been memorialized in FBI 302s.
It isn’t quite déjà vu, but I once watched an entire months-long trial in which a large part of the defense’s strategy was to exploit discrepancies between the witnesses on-the-stand testimony and FBI interviews which were transcribed from the agent’s raw notes to governmental forms, called 302s. But the witnesses in that trial were well coached…er…prepared. When the defense asked about the discrepancies, they had a well worn mantra that went something like this: I don’t know what’s in those notes or how they took them, they must’ve misunderstood what I was telling them. The truth is what I’m saying today. There wasn’t much the defense could do after that.
In the trial at hand, there have likewise been discrepancies between the FBI 302 notes and the on-the-stand testimony of various witnesses. But there is no mantra and the defense has usually been able to get the witness to acquiesce to the notes, admitting that statements must have been said because they’re in the notes. And it is one of the few exploitable cracks the defense has found in the prosecution’s machine-like case even if they do not always handle prosperity well.
Road Building
Most of the morning testimony was devoted to Gerald Krozel, also known as the Construction Executive, in the parlance of the indictment. Krozel is an elderly semi-retired man of 70. He would sit up in the witness box, staring straight ahead with both hands in front of him on the desk. Krozel spoke slowly and deliberately, in a soft, low gravelly voice, often asking the attorney in front of him to, “Please rephrase the question.”
His story had been that Blagojevich had talked about a $6 billion road project in close proximity to discussing fundraising, and the need to donate money to his campaign fund ahead of the deadline set by the ethics bill (when people and companies with large state contracts would not be able donate to the governor). During the prosecution’s questioning, in his slow precise style, he said that he felt these two things were “connected.” And that he felt pressured by the Governor. The proximity part of the story, and even his feeling of pressure, were probably true, but the word “connected” and the very deliberate way he inserted it into his answer, sounded like it might have been supplied to him.
In Blagojevich’s cross, Goldstein went over discrepancies between Krozel’s testimony and what was recorded in the FBI 302s. The defense counsel also brought out that Rod Blagojevich had amiably told Krozel to “Call if he needed anything,” but that he never called and never told Blagojevich that he was uncomfortable.
It wasn’t a bad cross, as Goldstein has been reliable for the defense, but he should have walked away and wasn’t able to quit after making his best points. After he asked Krozel if he felt pressured now—on the witness stand—and then went on to bluntly ask Krozel why he lied to the FBI. Krozel looked up, his eyes wide and he said in his low gravelly whisper that the FBI had come to his house at 6:30 in the morning, “While I was dressing my wife.” He went on to say that she had an illness, and that, “She can’t walk, she can’t write. And I just wanted to get them out of my house.” The courtroom was somber, silent, the only smile I saw was on Rod Blagojevich who was apparently not listening—wearing one of the many hats he has—and chatting with Adam Sr.
[More to come—it was a long day…fatigue and all that…]
It isn’t quite déjà vu, but I once watched an entire months-long trial in which a large part of the defense’s strategy was to exploit discrepancies between the witnesses on-the-stand testimony and FBI interviews which were transcribed from the agent’s raw notes to governmental forms, called 302s. But the witnesses in that trial were well coached…er…prepared. When the defense asked about the discrepancies, they had a well worn mantra that went something like this: I don’t know what’s in those notes or how they took them, they must’ve misunderstood what I was telling them. The truth is what I’m saying today. There wasn’t much the defense could do after that.
In the trial at hand, there have likewise been discrepancies between the FBI 302 notes and the on-the-stand testimony of various witnesses. But there is no mantra and the defense has usually been able to get the witness to acquiesce to the notes, admitting that statements must have been said because they’re in the notes. And it is one of the few exploitable cracks the defense has found in the prosecution’s machine-like case even if they do not always handle prosperity well.
Road Building
Most of the morning testimony was devoted to Gerald Krozel, also known as the Construction Executive, in the parlance of the indictment. Krozel is an elderly semi-retired man of 70. He would sit up in the witness box, staring straight ahead with both hands in front of him on the desk. Krozel spoke slowly and deliberately, in a soft, low gravelly voice, often asking the attorney in front of him to, “Please rephrase the question.”
His story had been that Blagojevich had talked about a $6 billion road project in close proximity to discussing fundraising, and the need to donate money to his campaign fund ahead of the deadline set by the ethics bill (when people and companies with large state contracts would not be able donate to the governor). During the prosecution’s questioning, in his slow precise style, he said that he felt these two things were “connected.” And that he felt pressured by the Governor. The proximity part of the story, and even his feeling of pressure, were probably true, but the word “connected” and the very deliberate way he inserted it into his answer, sounded like it might have been supplied to him.
In Blagojevich’s cross, Goldstein went over discrepancies between Krozel’s testimony and what was recorded in the FBI 302s. The defense counsel also brought out that Rod Blagojevich had amiably told Krozel to “Call if he needed anything,” but that he never called and never told Blagojevich that he was uncomfortable.
It wasn’t a bad cross, as Goldstein has been reliable for the defense, but he should have walked away and wasn’t able to quit after making his best points. After he asked Krozel if he felt pressured now—on the witness stand—and then went on to bluntly ask Krozel why he lied to the FBI. Krozel looked up, his eyes wide and he said in his low gravelly whisper that the FBI had come to his house at 6:30 in the morning, “While I was dressing my wife.” He went on to say that she had an illness, and that, “She can’t walk, she can’t write. And I just wanted to get them out of my house.” The courtroom was somber, silent, the only smile I saw was on Rod Blagojevich who was apparently not listening—wearing one of the many hats he has—and chatting with Adam Sr.
[More to come—it was a long day…fatigue and all that…]
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