It’s just short of a high five fest at the defense table this morning during Sam Adam Jr.’s cross-examination of Lon Monk.
As Adam Jr. lit into Monk about his failing memory on the specifics of meetings “the four” held at Rezmar’s Chicago headquarters and at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where extortion schemes were alleged to have taken place, his father, Sam Adam, turned to Blagojevich and said, “there is no way anyone can believe him now.” Blagojevich looks incredibly happy, at one point turning to his other attorney, Sheldon Sorosky, smiling, pointing to a legal pad and saying, “Write that down.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar, meanwhile, has objected numerous times during Adam Jr.’s cross, over 30 of which have been sustained. Schar was practically standing throughout. Once the jury was dismissed, Judge James Zagel called Adam Jr. to the podium and gave him a little bit of advice.
“Questions that start with the word ‘but’ are usually arguments not a question,” Zagel said. “And questions that start with ‘you said’ generally don’t get you anywhere unless they are really obscure. I say this because you could probably reduce the length of the cross examination by about 10 percent.”
Idalmy Carrera contributed reporting