Blago's lawyers quit impeachment trial

Later this month Rod Blagojevich's impeachment trial will start. If you are an attorney who currently has a light case load, you may want to track Blago down. His principal attorneys have backed out defending the Illinois governor in front of the state Senate, as the Chicago Tribune informs us:

Blagojevich's lawyers said the process has become "fundamentally unfair" because they have had too little time to prepare for the Senate trial and have been denied subpoena power to call their own witnesses.

The governor's lawyers had been asked to file an appearance on his behalf by Monday. The Senate trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 26.

In a statement, attorney Sam Adam and his son, Samuel E. Adam, said they couldn't in good conscience represent the governor in a Senate trial "without any due process of law, fundamental fairness or the most basic right to confront one's accusers."

"We cannot and will not degrade our client, ourselves, our oaths and our profession, as well as the office of the governor, by participating in a Potemkin-like lynching proceeding, thus making it appear that the governor is represented by competent counsel when in fact he is not," the statement said.

Okay, this misuse of the word "lynching" has to stop. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) used it when complaing about members from his own party who opposed--they of course later backed off that stance--the seating of Blago's pick to the US Senate.

I hate to bring it up, but the Adamses are African-American. Blagojevich is of Serbian descent.

Ed Genson won't be in Springfield for the impeachment trial either. The legendary defense attorney says he will represent Blago in any future criminal trials.

Shortly before Blagojevich's arrest, the Chicago Democrat dropped Winston & Strawn, a large and politically-connected law firm. The speculation is that Blagojevich, or rather his campaign fund, stopped paying its legal bills.

UPDATE 7:40pm CST: From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Lead defense lawyer Ed Genson said the governor instructed him not to show up.

This story will continue to evolve.

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