Convicting the Uncharged, Defending the Convicted

Georgia Thompson testified yesterday in the federal trial in which she is accused of illegally steering a state contract to a company. So far the government has made it’s case and now the defense is calling it’s witnesses.

Here are a few things that I thought were interesting in the accounts of testimony that I have read:

• An FBI agent admitted under cross-examination that he had no evidence that Thompson knew anything about any political ties or the contributions that Adelman executives gave to the Doyle campaign.

• Thompson testified in her own defense yesterday saying that she does not belong to a political party, doesn’t work on campaigns and doesn’t always vote.

• Thompson also testified that she hardly knows former Department of Administration Secretary Marc Marotta. She stated that she would see him at quarterly leadership meetings and she would bump into him in the elevator sometimes.

• Thompson also mentioned that her superiors never said anything about Adelman and never suggested to her that Adelman should get a contract.

My personal instinct based on these details, is that an acquittal is more likely than was once thought. Just a gut feeling, obviously no one will really know until the verdict is read.

Seth Zlotacha at In Effect has already pointed out that the right wing seems to be preparing themselves for a not guilty verdict. As Seth points out, no matter what happens the right wing has already convicted Doyle:

But now that the state has rested in the trial against Georgia Thompson, conservatives are already preparing to make lemonade out of lemons.

Rick gets the ball rolling today: "I don't know if Thompson will be convicted (right now, I'm guessing not) but it seems very likely that the process was cooked. If she is acquitted, it will be no vindication of Doyle."

To sum-up:Guilty verdict = Doyle is guiltyNot guilty verdict = Doyle is still guilty

How strange that the same crowd that gives convicted felon Scott Jenson a pass are willing to convict someone that has not been charged or even implicated of criminal wrong doing. Can anyone on the right side of the blogosphere spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y?