Subject:  Lawyers see Fieger, Spence theater |
Author:
Chris
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 05/22/08 6:41pm
In reply to:
Diane
's message, "Fiegers' Trial Tomorrow ????" on 04/13/08 6:44pm
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Laura Berman for the Detroit News
Lawyers see Fieger, Spence theater
As Geoffrey Fieger likes to say: This is America.
A herd of lawyers, many of them alumni of Gerry Spence's trial college ranch, piled into the federal Fieger trial Wednesday, starry-eyed admirers of the defense lawyer at least one of them called "the greatest lawyer in history."
Attorneys from near, far
It was Wednesday's double-feature matinee -- with Fieger in the witness box -- that filled the rows with attorneys from Texas, West Virginia, Idaho and Lansing.
"I could have seen Frank Sinatra four or five times but I never did. I didn't want to make the same mistake with Gerry Spence, so I'm here," said David Glenn, a lawyer from Grapevine, Texas, who decided the night before "to pop in" for Fieger's testimony.
Advertisement
This is America, a place where lawyers who frequently play themselves on TV talk shows are playing themselves in a real-life courtroom drama that's one part facts of campaign finance law, one part murky realities of campaign finance law, all stirred and shaken by Michigan's most outsized, outspoken legal presence.
"Counsel, restrain your witness," U.S. District Judge Paul Borman said to Spence, when Fieger rattled on.
The spectator-lawyers were busy handicapping jurors, assessing the demeanor of the judge, and using their Spence-trained skills to determine which way the wings of justice are flying.
Toning it down
Meanwhile, a tamped-down Fieger worked hard to tone down his customary sarcasm and penchant for hyperbole (only one "outrageous" uttered, one "enormous" and a "not in my wildest dreams"). But he didn't disguise his contempt for his opponents: the federal government that had sent 80 agents to raid his Southfield office and interview employees.
He insisted the government was overreaching, that he and his fellow lawyers researched the law and believed their approach was legal.
"That's what's so frightening about this case," he said.
Again and again, he admitted reimbursing employees for more than $100,000 in political contributions -- but that he had paid them "in salary" bonuses that made them whole by including all taxes and pension contributions.
When Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Helland asked Fieger why his employees might want to "voluntarily" write checks to support political candidates, Fieger asked, in a voice so unctuously sincere that it seemed flip, "You mean other than just being good Americans?"
Steve Fishman, who's defending Fieger's partner, Ven Johnson, suggested to Fieger that "the law is a fluid concept."
That's an idea, at once true and toxic and American to the core, that the jurors in this case will one day have to consider.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
