Potential benefits, pitfalls to Blagojevich taking stand

It's commonly said that no defense attorney wants to put a client on the witness stand. It's done only as a last resort when there's no other hope of refuting the prosecution case.

Yet it's considered a fait accompli that Rod Blagojevich will testify in his corruption trial, perhaps today as the first witness in his defense. What are the reasons he's doing so, and what are the risks he's taking?

Why he has to testify:He's said all along he was going to.And not just him, but his attorneys as well. Blagojevich has maintained he looks forward to defending himself in court, that he wants to "play all the tapes," and that he'll prove himself vindicated. In his opening statement, defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. promised the jury they'd be hearing from him. "I'm telling you now, he's going to testify," Adam said. "He's not going to let some chubby, four-eyed lawyer do his talking for him."The strength of the government's case - and the damage done by his own wiretapped comments - have made it essential.Former Gov. George Ryan didn't testify in his corruption case, and look where it got him. Some pundits said early on they expected the Blagojevich defense to simply throw the case to the jury, insisting the government hadn't proved its charges, but Blagojevich fundraiser Tony Rezko tried that and was found guilty on 16 of 24 counts. The tapes have made it essential for Blagojevich to mount some sort of defense against them. What's more, thanks to rules on hearsay, for Blagojevich even to come close to playing "all the tapes," he has to take the stand as a witness to make them admissible.It's the nature of the political beast. Blagojevich is a born campaigner, and has been campaigning for his innocence on every available media outlet since before he was even arrested and charged. "He is a high-charisma guy and at the core a likable guy," said Barrington Hills attorney Andrew Stoltmann."All politicians think that the more they talk, the more persuasive they are," added DePaul University law professor Leonard Cavise.Why not? At this point, "he doesn't have much to lose," Stoltmann said.Why it's risky:It opens him to other forms of attack. Prosecutors limited their witnesses and evidence to streamline their case and make it a coherent story for jurors, but when the defendant takes the stand they can draw on anything from their extensive investigation to confront Blagojevich with it and potentially embarrass him in the eyes of the jury. Cross-examination. Blagojevich won't be facing puffball questions about his hair from "The View" co-host Joy Behar when he takes the stand. Instead, he'll most likely be interrogated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar, lead prosecutor in the case. While defense attorneys will be doing all they can to allow Blagojevich to bolster his side, Schar will get his turn to try to tear it down.Where Patti is concerned, the risks might well outweigh the potential rewards.Blagojevich and his attorneys have said that his wife, Patti, will testify as well, but as she hasn't been charged for the crimes the prosecution alleges - such as receiving ghost-payroll checks from Rezko - and wouldn't likely be offered immunity, she puts herself at risk for either charges of her own or perjury, and for what gain? Jurors already have seen her steadfast support in her daily court appearances and wouldn't expect anything less if she were to take the stand.The defense has put itself in a nearly impossible position for Blagojevich to maintain. Last week, defense attorney Sam Adam Sr. said they would argue there was "a lack of willfulness" and "no criminal intent" in Blagojevich's actions, even acknowledging he said what he said and did what he did. Several times, defense lawyers asked prosecution witnesses if Blagojevich wasn't just "blowing off steam" and didn't even believe what he himself was saying on the wiretapped conversations played in court. So they have to depict Blagojevich as something of a clueless buffoon who was used by corrupt underlings to establish their defense. Blagojevich will have to be at once savvy, charming and a bit of a nincompoop to make that story work, and that's a challenging bit of tightrope walking for even a career politician.bull; The Associated Press contributed to this reportFalse512391Robert Blagojevich, brother of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, right, and his wife, Julie, arrive at the Federal Court building, Monday.Associated PressFalse <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Video</h2><ul class="video"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/ga.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/qos.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/qos_mps.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/swfobject.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/util.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://img.video.ap.org/inline/js/inlineutil.js"></script><div id="commmanagerDiv"></div><div id="divPlayer">To view this site, you need to have Flash Player 8.0 or later installed. 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