Star Attorney's Reputation Is on the Line in Blago Trial

(Aug. 15) -- When he announced the charges in late 2008, Chicago's U.S. attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, came at Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich with all the bravado of Eliot Ness going after Al Capone in the movie "The Untouchables."

He told a throng of reporters that Blagojevich had embarked on a "corruption crime spree" and added, with a touch of the melodramatic, that the Democratic governor's crimes "would make Lincoln turn over in his grave." Blagojevich responded by hitting the talk show circuit, calling the charges unfounded and criticizing Fitzgerald.

Now, 20 months later, Fitzgerald's bravado and stellar reputation are being tested in the public corruption trial of Blagojevich. After 12 days of jury deliberations, the outcome seems more uncertain than ever.

On Thursday, the jury informed U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel that they had reached agreement on just two of 24 counts, and that they could not reach a decision on 11. To boot, they said they hadn't even gotten to the other 11 counts of wire fraud. The judge directed them to keep deliberating. The jury took Friday off and returns Monday.

To be sure, Fitzgerald, 49, considered a rock star or a "prosecutor's prosecutor" among U.S. attorneys around the country, has had more than his share of victories. In fact, he was the one, as a special prosecutor temporarily assigned to Washington, who convicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, in the CIA leak case. And his office brought down Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who is behind bars serving 6½ years on a corruption conviction.

Fitzgerald's name has also surfaced in the rumor mill as a potential candidate to take over the FBI when Director Robert S. Mueller III steps down next year.

While the media, and some in the public, may perceive an acquittal or mistrial in the Blagojevich case as a big blow to Fitzgerald and his ego, those who know him say it won't be a big deal either way.

"If this case doesn't turn into a victory, it might be looked at as a loss for him" in the public eye and the media, Chicago native Anthony S. Barkow, a former federal prosecutor in New York who knows Fitzgerald, told AOL News. "But I don't think it will damage his legacy because he's had such success.

"I don't think there's an ego thing involved with him," said Barkow, executive director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at New York University School of Law. "I think he does what the right thing to do is. Pat is a very, very secure person with his perception of himself."

Fitzgerald friend Roscoe C. Howard Jr., former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, concurs. "He certainly doesn't have that kind of ego. I don't think it will slow him down" if he loses.

"I think you have to applaud Pat for bringing the case," added Howard, now with the law firm Andrews Kurth. "You have prosecutors who worry about reputations and don't bring these kind of cases."

Over the past several weeks, starting in June, the government presented its case, which included secretly recorded FBI tapes of Blagojevich allegedly trying to shake down businesses and sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he won the presidency.

Exactly what would constitute a win for Fitzgerald is up for debate.

"If you have brought charges and a jury has decided someone has committed two felonies, you've got to think it's good that for the public that you brought something to light, particularly considering the position he [Blagojevich] was in," Howard said.

But, he conceded, "people will judge it as win or loss, no matter what happens. And Blagojevich will spin it in some way, because that's what Blagojevich does."

Barkow says that from a law enforcement standpoint, victory for Fitzgerald would be a "conviction on any of the counts that raises the possibility of prison time."

"Obviously, the general public and the media are going to look at batting averages and calculate how many overall counts resulted in conviction. "

Whatever the case, Barkow insists: "I don't think his will hurt his standing in the public eye. It's pretty well cemented as being well thought of."

A loss, he added, would probably be a "blip" on Fitzgerald's career.

Legal experts say the prosecution could retry on any counts on which the jury was hung. But if there are any convictions, the prosecution might have to weigh whether additional convictions in a second trial would make a difference at sentencing.

"The case is rarely as good the second time around," said Alan M. Gershel, the former head of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit and a professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan.

For one, he said, the defense has already heard the testimony the first time and has a better chance of impeaching the prosecution's witnesses, who may not say the exact same thing the second time around.

Gershel says it won't be considered much of a win for Fitzgerald's office if the government gets convictions on minor counts and not the ones addressing the meat of the case.

"I believe a victory on any major count is a victory," he said.