Excerpt:If only the corruption trial of the former governor of Illinois had been a movie. We'd have enjoyed character development, a tidy resolution and that big courtroom confession.
Some pundits and one holdout on the Blagojevich jury apparently wanted the movie. They wanted the " smoking gun," and maybe even Jack Nicholson shrieking, "You can't handle the truth!"
But jury foreman James Matsumoto thought there was ample evidence to find Dead Meat guilty. So did 10 other jurors, making it 11-1 against Blago on the main racketeering counts that he tried to sell President Barack Obama's old Senate seat to the highest bidder.
"The lack of a smoking gun was one of the major flaws we had addressed," Matsumoto told reporters. "The most damning evidence to me were the recordings. I believe they proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. But to others, they didn't." |