Defense hits Levine's memory over meeting with Rezko

If Antoin "Tony" Rezko wanted a bribe from Mercy Hospital in exchange for letting it build a facility in Crystal Lake, why didn't he direct the chairman of the state hospital board to approve the plan -- no ifs, ands or buts -- at a vote scheduled just two days out, asked an attorney for Rezko Wednesday.

The attorney, Joseph Duffy, has spent about a week hammering at the credibility of the government's star witness, Stuart Levine. Thursday, he began in earnest to confront the thornier problem of what to do about the secret tape recordings where Levine, not knowing he was being taped, suggests to others that Rezko is in on corrupt deals. Duffy's explanation, given during opening statements of the trial, is that Levine was acting on his own, invoking Rezko's name to benefit himself.

Thursday he set out to prove that point by playing a phone call made April 19, 2004, between Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board Chairman Thomas Beck and Levine, a board member.

Levine and Beck have testified that Rezko would tell Beck how to vote on various hospital matters. But Duffy characterizes Rezko -- a Blagojevich fundraiser -- as just a liaison between the board and the governor, someone who relayed the administration's wishes in a perfectly legal fashion.

Levine claims he met with Rezko and the two agreed they'd take a bribe from a Mercy Hospital construction contractor in exchange for letting the hospital be built. The two, said Levine, agreed on that weeks ahead of time, but Levine said he met with Rezko April 14, 2004, at the Standard Club to remind Rezko of the deal and to discuss other crooked arrangements.

At the meeting, Levine said, Rezko assured Levine he'd "get it done."

But when Beck called Levine on the 19th, he mentioned that Rezko wants the board to approve Mercy, but also had no sense of urgency. Beck said in the call, in fact, that he planned to delay the vote on Mercy, even though the board technically, by state rules, had a deadline to vote on the matter by April 21.

"It is clear, sir, is it not, Mr. Beck has not been given any type of directive to present the Mercy (application) to the board on April 21?" Duffy asked Levine.

"Yes, sir," responded Levine.

Duffy pointed out that when Beck said he wanted to delay the vote, it was Levine who became anxious, stuttering and stammering and trying to think of ways Beck might pull off the vote by April 21.

"It actually is you, sir, who's pushing?" asked Duffy.

"Yes sir."

If Rezko was really in on the deal, why didn't Levine call Rezko the minute he got off the phone with Beck to inform Rezko that Beck wasn't following orders, Duffy questioned.

"When you hung up the phone from this conversation with Mr. Beck, you did not call Mr. Rezko, did you?" pressed Duffy.

"No, sir," said Levine.

Instead, Levine called a board attorney the moment Beck hung up, and began to gather information on the Mercy application to try to convince Beck himself that questions on the application had been answered.

But Levine maintained that Beck, in a call to Levine a day later, told Levine that Rezko had called Beck again and instructed Beck to get the vote done by April 21.

"Direct me to the page where he (Beck) shares with you that he has spoken to Rezko," challenged Duffy, showing Levine a transcript of the April 20 call between Beck and Levine.

Indeed, nowhere in the call does Beck explicitly say that, although Levine has testified it was clear Beck now was on board at the time of the second call.

"Unless you can show me the page …" began Levine, before being cut off by Duffy, who said he would give Levine a copy of the transcript to study for himself overnight. The comment came just as the trial broke for the day.

The nuancing of the evidence was not the only damage Duffy did to the prosecution Wednesday.

Duffy also pointed out that Levine has testified in this trial that he worked out the crooked deal on Mercy with Rezko before colluding with Mercy's contractor, Jacob Kieferbaum, on the amount of the bribe. But Levine's own plea agreement, Duffy showed, puts the order of those interactions differently.

"Does your plea agreement state that you and Mr. Kieferbaum first agreed on a kickback (before approaching Rezko)?" Duffy asked.

"Yes, sir," answered Levine

"And you do not find that inconsistent with what you're telling this jury?" pressed Duffy?

"No, sir. I do not," insisted Levine.

Duffy, who has grown increasingly impatient with Levine's rambling answers, did not give Levine a chance to reconcile the two tales.