With the lunch break nearing, the prosecution worked its way through the various charges against Rod Blagojevich.
“I’m going to summarize them for you and point out where the important issues are and where the easy decisions are,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Niewoehner tells the jury.
He notes that there are a “lot of overlapping crimes” and then explains why Rod Blagojevich is guilty of these crimes, even if he didn’t profit off of them.
“You don’t have to be a successful criminal to be a criminal,” the prosecutor quips.
Niewoehner begins with the Senate seat. In explaining the related bribery charge, he says the crime “does not have to be X for Y, which makes sense. People do not talk that way. It’s the message that’s inferred, not the specific words.”
Niewoehner continues: “If someone wants the job as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, that counts. You cannot trade that for appointing a senator.” This statement brings the defense’s first objection of the day, which is overruled by Judge James Zagel.
“He knows the rules,” says Niewoehner. “He knows the rules as a former prosecutor, as a lawyer himself. He knows you don’t sell the Senate seat.”
Next, Niewoehner tries to explain attempted extortion: “It does not matter whether defendant Blagojevich intended to appoint [U.S. Rep. Jesse] Jackson or not. It matters what [Raghuveer] Nayak understood.”
Next is conspiracy.
“Conspiracy is simple,” says Niewoehner. “It is an agreement. Two people agree to commit a crime: that is conspiracy. And in the Senate seat context, defendant Blagojevich is conspiring, John Harris is conspiring – that is what John Harris pled guilty to – and Robert Blagojevich is conspiring.”
Per Robert Blagojevich’s involvement, Niewoehner adds: “You don’t need to join the conspiracy in the beginning, you don’t need to be aware of every detail, you don’t need to be involved in every event.”
Niewoehner was discussing the counts related to racetrack owner John Johnston when lunch break was called.