Rezko's lawyers want verdict thrown out

atprm

By
Natasha Korecki
on September 20, 2008 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Lawyers for political fund-raiser Tony Rezko are asking a federal judge to throw out his conviction, saying his case relied too heavily on an unreliable witness.

In a 25-page motion filed Friday in federal court, defense attorneys also said prosecutors never showed Rezko had an interest in a key kickback scheme at issue in his case and failed to prove a mailing happened in one of the mail fraud counts.

Rezko, 53, of Wilmette was convicted in June of widespread corruption tied to state deals. He is a former top adviser and fund-raiser to Gov. Blagojevich and a fund-raiser to Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Central to Rezko's trial was testimony from cooperator Stuart Levine, who sat on two state boards and said he held a corrupt relationship with Rezko. Defense lawyers say Levine can't be believed because his own crimes and substantial drug use motivated him to lie.

"The court should order a new trial on the ground that the record in this case, polluted as it is by the inherently unreliable testimony of Levine, leaves such a strong doubt as to Rezko's guilt that it would be a miscarriage of justice to let the verdict stand," wrote one of Rezko's lawyer, Mariah Moran.

Rezko is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 28.

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