While the billboard is correct, "Illinois has a history of some pretty good lawyers," every circus has clowns. Sam Adam Jr., surely thinks he is in the first category, but the member of Rod Blagojevich's defense team says federal prosecutors thinks he belongs in the second. "We're a joke," he said. "They think I'm a clown."But he's effective, as the Chicago Sun-Times points out:
In state court, Adam's record, according to his law partner's father, is 60-5 in cases where he gave both the opening and closing statements. That included winning the acquittal of a man who stabbed someone 61 times.Adam gave the opening and closing arguments in the R Kelly trial--the rapper was acquitted of child pornography charges.
Adam, 37, and the rest of the defense team are aware their frontman lacks experience in this new federal arena, that draws different jury pools and sees prosecutors win about 95 percent of the time.
Still, the team they've assembled, led by Adam Jr. and his father, is banking they'll beat the odds.
My legal experience is typical of most non-lawyers, it's non-existent. But I did serve on a jury for a Cook County murder trial, where Adam has been so successful. The deceased had been stabbed to death over an argument about $3 and a bottle of Richard's Wild Irish Rose. I bet they don't get many cases like that in federal court.
But this trial could be a circus--Blago knows how to put on a show. And his legal team has issued subpoenas to testify to President Obama, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The Obama subpoena has already been denied.
On the morning of Blagojevich's arrest, US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald remarked that the since-removed-from-office Illinois governor's conduct "would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."
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