Defense rests in Rezko trial, calls no witnesses

Maybe Joseph Duffy, the chief counsel for Antoin "Tony" Rezko is the greatest defense attorney ever. But a friend-of-the-blog, an attorney who has tried cases in the federal district court in Chicago, told me on Saturday that prosecution's success rate there "is about 98 percent." He added, "They don't waste their time on worthless cases."

From AP:

Less than two hours after prosecutors rested their case Monday in political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko's marathon fraud trial, defense attorneys did the same without calling a single witness.

It is not unusual for the defense portion of a major criminal trial to be fairly short, though attorneys often call at least a few witnesses.

"We do not believe the government has met their burden in proving the charges against Mr. Rezko," chief defense counsel Joseph J. Duffy told reporters after federal court jurors were sent home until next week.

Closing arguments begin May 12.

Technorati tags: politics Illinois Election Democrats Chicago Tony Rezko corruption legal Ali Ata