Blago is silenced

Jul 21st, 2010 by Patrick Thornton

A few weeks ago I did a story about some good advice for representing a less than ideal defendant.

During the reporting, I asked a few defense attorneys in town, who had represented high profile clients, to share some of their tips when it came to defending a client they didn’t think a judge or a jury would like. The idea was that there are some defendants that for whatever reason it would be hard to get past that initial impression.
I asked Jon Hopeman, of the attorneys I interviewed, if he had any rules when it came to calling his own client to testify. Hopeman, who represented Tom Petters in his Ponzi -scheme case, said that it depends on how the case is going.

“If you don’t like the look in a jury’s eye, sometimes you don’t have a choice,” Hopeman said.

He doesn’t have a hard and fast rule but said sometimes your client is his own best witness.

I thought of that story after I read this one. It appears former Illinois Governor and reality TV star Rod Blagojevich will not take the stand in his defense in the corruption charges against him.

What can we glean from this? I submit two theories. Either the government’s case against Rod wasn’t as strong as his lawyers thought so they decided there was no need to go to their Ace in the Hole, or two, (and I think this is the most likely) Rod’s lawyers agreed that he is a narcissistic, attention craving lunatic and is liable to shoot himself in the foot if he ever places his hand on the Bible and takes the stand.