Cellini Attorney Wants Conviction Tossed Because Juror Lied About Criminal Past

U.S. District Judge James Zagel closely guarded the release of any information to the media about jurors who served during the corruption trial of Illinois power broker William Cellini. An investigation of one of the jurors by the Chicago Tribune uncovered evidence the juror had lied about her criminal past. That discovery has prompted Cellini's lawyers to take steps to have his conviction on two of four felony charges tossed by the district court judge. From the Tribune:

Cook County court records show that a woman with the same name, age and address as the juror pleaded guilty to a felony charge of crack-cocaine possession in February 2000 and was sentenced to 1 1/2 years of probation. In August 2008, she pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence without a driver's license, also a felony, and was sentenced to probation and time served — 44 days in jail, according to the records.

The juror never disclosed she had a conviction on a questionnaire filled out by jurors or under questioning by the judge in the courtroom during jury selection early last month, court officials acknowledged Thursday night after the Tribune came forward with the information.

Cellini's lawyer, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, told the Tribune he was shocked by the discovery. "I consider this very important information that I was not aware of," Webb said. "I don't know the facts here, but based on what the Tribune has reported to me, we are looking into the matter to determine if we have a basis to file a motion for a mistrial because a juror may have been allowed to serve on this jury who was legally disqualified from jury service."  The Tribune says Judge Zagel denied requests by reporters to obtain the questionnaires completed by jurors, and it was unclear whether he had conducted background checks on the jurors, something the Tribune says other federal judges in Chicago often do in high profile cases.
The Tribune's initial report earlier today indicated that federal law generally disqualifies convicted felons from serving as jurors. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald took strong exception to that assertion and issued the following statement as applied to persons whose "civil rights have been restored":

An article in today’s Chicago Tribune states that ‘Federal law generally disqualifies felons from serving on juries.’ This statement is off the mark. Federal law disqualifies persons who have been convicted of felonies from serving on juries only so long as their ‘civil rights have not been restored.’ Under Illinois law, civil rights are automatically restored upon the ‘completion of any sentence of imprisonment or upon discharge from probation, conditional discharge or periodic imprisonment.’ Thus, a person who has completed his or her sentence on a felony conviction is not disqualified from serving on a federal jury.

We decline to comment on facts specific to the Cellini case because it is appropriate to reserve our comments for the courtroom on matters that could be the subject of litigation. In general, however, federal law appropriately provides great respect for a jury’s verdict, and holds that it should not be lightly disturbed. 

I smell a rat and think the Tribune is working over time to keep Cellini out of prison. The Sun-Times (to have a competing newspaper is golden) is tamping down the Tribune's enthusiasm for springing loose the man who has operated as the mob boss of Illinois politics for decades.

While Cellini’s lawyer said Friday he would move to have the verdict thrown out and a mistrial declared, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement that it’s not that cut and dried.

Meanwhile, experts say that felonies do no automatically disqualify jurors from serving and that even if a judge finds that the juror lied about criminal convictions, the appeals courts have a long reputation for keeping jury verdict’s intact.

Contradicting the earlier Tribune report, the Sun-Times reports that the juror in question actually disclosed on the questionnaire the fact that she had a prior conviction at least for the DUI. The discrepancy turns on what she told Judge Zagel during voire dire that failed to honestly describe her prior convictions, instead, suggesting they concerned a relative and not her.

Zagel: “You were asked the question, ‘Have you or a family member ever been arrested? And you gave an answer. Does that refer to you or to someone else?”

Juror: “Someone else.”

Zagel: “Okay. A relative of yours?”

Juror: “Yes.” 

The juror went on to say the person was convicted and treated fairly. According to court records, the woman had a felony drug offense and was sentenced to probation in 1999. In 2008, she was convicted of felony aggravated DUI and not having a valid ID and again was sentenced to probation. 

The Sun-Times cites legal experts for the notion that it will be very difficult to overturn the conviction based on the false statements the juror in question made to Judge Zagel:

Former prosecutor Phil Turner said he’s seen “unbelievable things” revealed about jurors after conviction, including that a juror had gone to school with a prosecutor, or considered information they’re not supposed to consider — and the conviction stays.

“Unfortunately, the way the law is, especially in the 7th Circuit, it doesn’t give the defendant any relief. The courts go to great lengths to sustain jury verdicts,” Turner, a defense lawyer, said.

“It has to be something extremely, extremely severe. Even if the government withholds exculpatory evidence … The court says ‘well, OK, this was wrong, but does this make a difference?’”

Former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer said the juror lying goes against the whole concept of jury voire dire.

“Voire dire means speak the truth,” Cramer said. “It makes it very hard to select a jury if someone’s lying.” But Cramer said it’s likely an uphill battle for Cellini, even if the juror did lie.

“If the remedy here is that the juror gets in trouble, that doesn’t do the defendant much good,” Cramer said. “You now have this issue that unfortunately wouldn’t exist and could have been avoided, if the court had run a background check.”

The Sun-Times also clears up the question on whether Judge Zagel had the backgrounds of the jurors checked. He did not, unlike the case of the trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich over which he also presided. It's surprising that he didn't conduct background investigations for the Cellini trial. Blagojevich may have been a much higher profile defendant, but Cellini wielded far more power in Illinois as many political insiders will attest.

How An Insider's Own Secretly-Recorded Words Brought Him Down

William Cellini

During the public corruption trial of Lincoln Plowman, jurors were most attentive during the trial when the prosecution played secretly-recorded conversations between him and an undercover FBI agent posing as a strip club owner. Plowman, a City-County Councilor, boasted to the agent how he controlled the zoning boards and could grease the wheels to make sure any zoning glitches for a proposed strip club would be remedied because he held sway over the people whose appointment to sit on those boards he made possible. He only asked for his cut in consideration for using his juice to make that happen. He later testified at his trial that he was just talking smack and didn't really mean what he told the undercover agent. The jurors didn't buy it. They found him guilty of soliciting a bribe and attempted extortion after deliberating for only a couple of hours.

This month, Illinois' most powerful political insider stood trial for shaking down the producer of the Oscar award-winning movie, Million Dollar Baby, for campaign contributions in consideration for his investment company receiving a share of investments made by the state Teachers Retirement Fund. The government's key witness was Stuart Levine, a member of the retirement fund's board who was a convicted felon with a long history of engaging in various frauds and scams, in addition to having battled a serious drug addiction for many years that helped fuel his bad decisions in life. Bill Cellini's attorney told jurors they couldn't believe anything Levine said because he was a liar and admitted drug addict who would say anything to limit the amount of time he spent in jail. As with Plowman's trial, government prosecutors had valuable recorded phone conversations between Levine and Cellini to make their case. Jurors didn't have to believe Levine; they only had to believe the words spoken by the man who called himself "The Pope" of Illinois politics. The Sun-Times shares the transcripts today of those recorded conversations that jurors told reporters they relied upon to convict Cellini on charges of attempted extortion and conspiracy to solicit a bribe. The conversation is golden, particularly Cellini's chuckle when he relates how they'll handle Thomas Rosenberg after he threatened to go to the FBI and complain about the shakedown during an earlier conversation with him, even as he plotted how Levine should respond to questions when the FBI later came knocking at his door:

Cellini: “Uh, just talked to Tommy.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “Uh, very interesting. And I don’t know what we, how, how it’s handled here. I, I, uh, acted like I was an innocent, uh, uh, know nothing, uh, guy on the sideline who was worried that this maneuver may be harmful to me and what I was doing.”

Cellini goes on to describe Rosenberg’s anger.

Cellini: “And he said, you know, I wouldn’t go to those guys [Rezko and Kelly]. Those two, they are, I mean, he was, I mean, and the more he talked, the more, uh, angry he got. He would, he said, I don’t have a problem; they have a real problem. I’m outraged. I’ll take them down. They’ve been advertising themselves as fixers, and they’re known by the ‘G’ as what they’re doin’. I wouldn’t have any association with these guys. . . . They got 48 hours if they’re going to do this to me and think they’re gonna blackmail me. . . . I’ll take ‘em down.”

Cellini then tells Levine they should warn Rezko that Rosenberg is angry.

Cellini: “ Yeah, I mean, I think we gotta alert him to what, uh, what, uh, because, uh, uh, my guess is that, uh, you know Tommy is a vicious guy.”

Levine then suggests giving Rosenberg nothing from the teacher pension fund. Instead, Cellini suggests giving Rosenberg a smaller stake to keep him from blowing the whistle.

Cellini: “Well, you know the other thing is? You know what you can do?”

Levine: “ Mmm.”

Cellini: “There’s, there’s a middle ground. Give him an insignificant amount . . . more.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.

Cellini: “ You know, give him 25 million [chuckling].”

Levine: [Laughs]

Cellini: “You know what I mean.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “ You, you, you deserve 25 million, you did a good job. What’s he gonna do, say I want more. I mean, what’s he gonna say publicly of somethin’ like that.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “ I mean, there’s two ways to skin . . . [laughs].”

Levine: “Well, that’s a good idea. That’s a very good idea. Let him get something, and that’s the end of it.”

Later in the conversation, Cellini and Levine criticize the way Rezko and Kelly are demanding campaign contributions for Blagojevich from state government contractors.

Cellini: “Uh, you know, I think I told you that I walked in their office a couple, about a month ago, and, and, and Chris beside himself sittin’ on the couch because it was simply that, uh, that the newspaper was doing an investigative job on him.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “And he was beside himself, and I said, you know, guys, this is a small piece of the investigation and the hits you’re gonna get. And I said, now let me just say somethin’ to you here. If somebody comes in with badges and flashes them at you and in the course of the conversation says, do you know Bill Cellini, just know before they ask that question that they have already checked all your phone logs, and they know that we have talked on the phone, or we have called each other 4,700 times, so you can’t say, oh, I’ve heard of him, or I barely know him.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “Because they know that we’ve called, talked back and forth.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “So you gotta be prepared with what it is. Well, he said, well, it’s fund-raising, you know, you helped me with money. Well, I don’t know that I even want that to be in the paper. . . .”

Levine: [Laughs]

Cellini: “You know, it may clear me legally.”

Levine: “I mean, uh, uh, um, uh, if, uh, um, I mean, they’re doing what they’re doing. Whether what they’re doing is legal or legal, I have no idea.

Cellini: “Well, um.”

Levine: “I mean, you know what you’re doin’ with them.”

Cellini: “I know that their mode of operandi is different that what ours was.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “Uh, I know that. Uh, we would not call somebody after they got something or before they were gonna get something.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “Again, it may be somewhat of a coincidence, but, as a general rule, we would not.”

Levine: “Mm-hmm.”

Cellini: “As a general rule, they do. That will set up a pattern that could be used, and then all they gotta do is ask some of these people, and these guys will cave in like a herd of turtles.”

I couldn't help but wonder as the jurors listened to Cellini coaching Levine on how to handle the feds if they should knock on his door if they didn't recall similar conversations Tony Soprano of HBO's "The Sopranos" used to have with his fellow mob friends when he feared the feds were breathing down his neck. I think Oscar Wilde got it right when he argued that life imitates art.

What is really frightening about this sordid affair in the Land of Lincoln is that one of the men at the center of the shakedown was Tony Rezko, who was Obama's closest political advisor and one of his most prolific campaign fundraisers before the feds sent him to prison. Rezko helped Obama purchase that south side mansion he and Michelle wanted so badly with the help of a corrupt banker whose bank subsequently was closed by federal regulators, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to cover its losses. We shouldn't be surprised that Solyndra and all the other taxpayer give-aways by the Obama administration to so-called green energy companies are tied to Obama's money bundlers for his presidential campaign. What was the Chicago Way is now the American Way. Will Obama have to face the music all of his corrupt Illinois buddies back in Illinois have faced?

Illinois' Most Powerful Political Deal Maker Guilty On Extortion And Bribery Charges

Sun-Times Photo of William Cellini

The most powerful behind-the-scenes political power broker in Illinois has been found guilty by a federal jury in Chicago on extortion and bribery charges. William Cellini stood accused of conspiring with political fixers Tony Rezko, Christopher Kelly and Stuart Levine to shake down the producer of the Oscar award-winning movie, "Million Dollar Baby," for campaign contributions for the campaign committee of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The group of political insiders told Thomas Rosenberg he would have to ante up campaign contributions for Blagojevich's campaign committee if his investment firm wanted to continue receiving its share of investments from the state's Teachers Retirement Fund. Rezko is behind bars for his earlier convictions. Kelly died from an apparent suicide following his conviction. Levine and Blagojevich are awaiting sentencing for their earlier convictions. And now Cellini has met the same fate after a jury found him guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit extortion and aiding in the solicitation of a bribe, while it found him not guilty of mail fraud and attempted extortion charges. From the Sun-Times:

Cellini, 76, was accused of trying to shake down investment firm owner Thomas Rosenberg, the producer of the Oscar-winning movie “Million Dollar Baby,” for a campaign contribution to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, in exchange for continued state pension business.

The jury of 10 women and two men reached its verdict after about two days of deliberating evidence following a 3 ½ week trial.

Prosecutors played secret FBI recordings of Cellini talking on the phone with Stuart Levine, a serial conman who was the government’s star witness and who testified for parts of six days.
Prosecutors said Cellini was a key member in a plot to shakedown Rosenberg. His motive, they said, was to please Blagojevich fundraisers Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly and thus, retain Cellini’s decades-long reach into the governor’s office. Prosecutors argued Cellini delivered an extortionate message to Rosenberg in May 2004 that his firm would lose Teachers’ Retirement System pension business if he didn’t donate to Blagojevich. Rosenberg testified he angrily balked at the request.

“I told Bill that I would not be shaken down,” Rosenberg testified last week. “I told him I would stand on the corner of State and Madison and discuss this. ... I screamed and cursed. I wanted him to pass on the full level of my fury to Rezko and Kelly.” . . .

While Cellini's political deals have largely been in the Land of Lincoln, he reached his influence into Indiana during the 1990s after Indiana legalized riverboat gambling. Cellini's Argosy Gaming, one of the first gaming companies to be awarded a riverboat gaming license in Illinois at Alton, won a gaming license for one of Indiana's first riverboat licenses at Lawrenceburg with the help of some of Indiana's big political insiders. Despite overwhelming evidence of corrupt activities surrounding the awarding of the Lawrenceburg license to Argosy, state and federal investigators under political pressure from the administration of Gov. Evan Bayh refused to pursue a criminal investigation. Cellini has profited more off politics in Illinois than any other man alive, earning hundreds of millions of dollars through his political insider deals mostly related to gaming and real estate investment deals, as well as the powerful lobbyist for the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association. His criminal conviction is a bigger deal in Illinois politics than the convictions of its two former governors because of the unprecedented political power he exercised within both political parties. Cellini arrogantly nicknamed himself "The Pope," a fact revealed during his trial that no doubt didn't play well with Catholic jurors. Jurors spent just two days deliberating before finding him guilty on two of the four charges.

The Springfield State Journal-Register has more on the conviction of the man the newspaper dubs the "King of Clout" here. "Outwardly affable, Cellini gained a reputation for his business savvy, hard work and sure-footedness - but also as someone to avoid crossing, someone who could make or break a person's career with a phone call," the newspaper writes. Cellini faces up to 30 years in prison. The Chicago Tribune has this reaction on Cellini's conviction from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald:

“In the quiet corridors in Chicago and Cook County and Springfield, a lot of backroom deals take place, and the fact that Bill Cellini was convicted today sends a very, very loud message,” Fitzgerald said.

The Terre Haute federal penitentiary will need to set up a dedicated wing at the prison to house convicted Illinois pols, including former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich, a former powerful Chicago alderman, "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak, and now the King of Clout, William Cellini.

Barack Obama pictured with Stuart Levine, one of the conspirators in the shakedown of Rosenberg and a key witness in Cellini's trial. Levine admitted to a long-time drug problem that included all-night parties at Chicago's infamous Purple Hotel with young gay men he paid to have sex with him. On secretly-recorded conversations, Levine and Cellini snickered as they discussed shaking down Rosenberg for campaign contributions. At the end of the secretly-recorded call, the two men spoke of their love for the other. Both men are married with children, although Levine's wife divorced him after learning of his adulterous affairs with other men. Levine said he had amassed a fortune of nearly $80 million through corrupt insider political deals, all of which he subsequently lost. He now sells electronic cigarettes at a suburban Chicago shopping mall for a living.