From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Lawyer calls Fawell 'fall guy' in feds' case

March 11, 2003

BY STEVE WARMBIR FEDERAL COURTS REPORTER

The federal corruption case against Scott Fawell, a former top aide to George Ryan, is filled with smoke and mirrors and witnesses willing to lie to avoid prison, Fawell's attorney said Monday.

In a closing argument that stretched more than four hours, Fawell's attorney, Edward Genson, attacked the prosecution's case for relying on witnesses who have been granted immunity from prosecution.

"We've got two things here, ladies and gentlemen," Genson told the jury. "It's smoke and mirrors and 'Let's Make a Deal.' "

Fawell is charged with driving the steamroller that was the George Ryan political machine, squashing everything in its path, prosecutors have alleged.

Fawell shanghaied the secretary of state's office when Ryan led it, and used state workers to do political volunteer work and sell fund-raising tickets, prosecutors said. When the feds closed in, Fawell oversaw a vast shredding party and lied before a grand jury to cover up the crimes.

Genson cast Fawell as a victim of the federal government changing the rules on what's legal in political behavior. Prosecutors, though, have said what happened under Fawell and Ryan, in terms of pressure to raise campaign money, was vastly different in quality and quantity compared with prior administrations.

"The argument the prosecutors make attacks the system, and Scott is the person they're blaming it on," Genson said. "The political system is no longer politically correct, and he's the fall guy."

Genson portrayed Fawell as a man who may use salty language to manage people but who also had a more laidback attitude toward fund-raising. Genson also spent a significant portion of his argument saying that key witnesses against Fawell, including Fawell's former political protege and his best friend, told the feds whatever they wanted to hear to duck prison time.

He attacked Richard Juliano, a former key aide to Ryan, for writing his own recommendation to the law school at the University of Chicago and signing Ryan's name to it. Juliano has testified he discussed what he was doing with Ryan.

"Now, how hard is it for this guy to make up a story?" Genson asked.

He also tried to put responsibility for some acts, including the destruction of documents, on Juliano.

As for Fawell's former best friend, Larry Hall, Genson said, "He'll make up anything to get himself out of trouble."

Hall, a crooked secretary of state employee, took bribes from a contractor as well as from drunk drivers who lost their licenses and were looking to get them back on the sly.

Genson also attacked prosecutors for not calling some people as witnesses, including one man often mentioned in the trial, Roger "The Hog" Stanley, a Republican businessman accused of providing favors to Fawell and getting sweetheart deals from him.

"They weren't here, they were like ghosts," Genson said of those not called.

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