Blago's Top Lawyers Want to Quit
The Chicago Tribune reports:
The father-and-son lawyers who tried to turn the summer's blockbuster federal corruption trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich into the courtroom equivalent of a bare-knuckle street brawl officially asked off the case Thursday.
The move by Sam Adam and Sam Adam Jr. to seek to withdraw as Blagojevich's lead lawyers was expected. U.S. District Judge James Zagel could grant the request as soon as Friday, when the case is up for a status hearing.
The motion tries to put the best spin on their leaving the case, stressing they are not abandoning their client. The Adams have proposed being unpaid advisers to the governor and the lawyers who would represent him at a retrial, which could take place as soon as January. Blagojevich was convicted in August on only one of the 24 counts against him — for lying to the FBI about his involvement in fundraising activity — and prosecutors have said they will retry him on the rest.
The younger Adam had been sending signals since moments after the verdict that he might not be back the second time around. He had given bombastic arguments and often clashed with Zagel, and some close to Adam said he was concerned he couldn't muster quite the same emotion again and that his act perhaps wouldn't play twice.
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