This was a surprise of sorts--Defense rests in Siegelman government corruption trial.
The gambit seems to be, "we've been saying all along the Feds have no case, so we don't even have to mount a defense." It might not be that big of a gamble--although the government's case is as strong as any case can ever be against a criminal, there seems to be a big swath of the population who can be persuaded that unless we have a signed piece of paper saying 'I want you to go get me some bribe money' that no crime has been committed. The precept of reasonable doubt has become very squishy in certain cases, especially in those cases where there are defendants can afford to hire clever legal advice, and defendants who directly appeal to a certain portion of society who tend to think of the law in partisan terms.
Be interesting to see how this turns out.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at June 13, 2006 08:38 AM