After the government submitted 121 pages of proposed jury instructions on Wednesday, summarizing the 24 charges against Rod Blagojevich, the defense checked in Thursday with a much trimmer offering. Below is what attorneys for the ex-governor would like Judge James Zagel to tell jurors:
“A defendant’s association with conspirators or persons involved in a criminal enterprise is not by itself sufficient to prove his/her participation or membership in a conspiracy or criminal enterprise.”
“If a defendant performed acts that advanced a criminal activity but had no knowledge that a crime was committed or was about to be committed, those acts alone are not sufficient to establish the defendant’s guilt.”
“Good faith on the part of the defendant is inconsistent with intent to defraud, an element of the charge. The burden is not on the defendant to prove his/her good faith; rather, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant acted with intent to defraud.”
“Campaign contributions and fundraising are an important, unavoidable and completely legitimate part of the American system of privately financed elections. The law recognizes that virtually every campaign contribution is given to an elected public official because the giver supports the acts done or to be done by the elected official. The Supreme Court has recognized that legitimate, honest campaign contributions are given to reward public officials with whom the donor agrees and in the generalized hope that the official will continue to take similar official acts in the future. As a result, official acts furthering the interests of the donor or his clients (if the donor is a lobbyist), taken shortly before or after campaign contributions are solicited and received from those beneficiaries, are perfectly legal and appropriate. In order to obtain a conviction for extortion or bribery or mail or wire fraud based upon an official’s acceptance of campaign contributions, the government must show that the payments are made in return for an explicit promise or undertaking by the official to perform or not to perform an official act.”
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