Rezko trial: Is a deal near?

Here's what CBS 2 Chicago's Mike Parker has to say this evening:

There's speculation Friday that Rezko could be ready to cut a deal.

It's possible that Ali Ata's testimony, something Antoin "Tony" Rezko's attorneys weren't figuring into their defense strategy, has had a chilling effect on the defense. Ata pleaded guilty to two charges just last week, and agreed to cooperate with authorities in exchange for sentencing leniency.

Stuart P. Levine provided detailed accounts of Rezko's alleged schemes, but the former hard-drug abuser probably isn't the most credible witness. He pleaded guilty under similar circumstances two years ago.

Prosecutors have audio tapes of some of Rezko's machinations to back up some of Levine's charges.

Ata is expected to finish his testimony on Monday and the prosecution may rest their case later that day. As for the defense, they may need just a day and a half to present their side.

From AP:

After eight weeks of evidence and 34 witnesses in Tony Rezko's corruption trial, it was the last-minute testimony of a former Blagojevich appointee Thursday that finally put illicit cash in Rezko's hands.

Ali Ata, onetime executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, told how, at Rezko's demand, he would pull piles of cash from a safe for payoffs -- once to keep a lien from being slapped on Gov. Blagojevich's home, another time to pay the debt of an adviser to the governor.

Ata was the last major witness before the prosecution rests--probably Monday. He testified that he bought his state job. Ata told jurors that, although Rezko wasn't a state employee, he had to report to Rezko while heading the finance agency, having to "take orders and listen," or "not show up to work the next day."

More...

Once, Ata said, in early 2004 he met Rezko at a restaurant on Touhy west of the Edens Expy. "He said there were contractors there at the restaurant that needed to get paid because they had done work on the governor's house," Ata said, adding that Rezko told him: "If they don't get paid, they will file a lien, and it will be embarrassing for everybody."

It sure would be.

Rezko's attorney, Joseph Duffy, challenged Ata's description of Rezko's reach, and during cross-examination, Ata told the court that he had known Blagojevich, his wife, and the governor's father-in-law, Alderman Richard Mell, for more than a dozen years.

The trial's judge, Amy St. Eve, says she wants closing arguments to begin May 12.

But a lot could happen in the next ten days.

Rezko has also been indicted in a separate case involving the sale of his pizza restaurants.

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