Lawyer: Wilkes never bribed Cunningham

[cascadiance]

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

By Greg Moran
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

1:17 p.m. October 9, 2007

SAN DIEGO – The defense lawyer for Poway businessman Brent Wilkes told a federal court jury Tuesday morning that his client never bribed former San Diego congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham – and he guaranteed he would call the imprisoned ex-legislator to back that up.

That was one of several revealing comments defense attorney Mark Geragos made during a 45-minute opening statement to jurors. Geragos sketched a defense that is, predictably, starkly at odds with the bribery, conspiracy and fraud case that Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Halpern laid out for jurors at the start of the day.

Halpern detailed for the panel what he said was a pattern of lavish gift-giving from Wilkes to Cunningham, as well as two cash payments from 1997 to 2004 to the congressman that Halpern said were intentionally obscured so as not to be revealed as bribes.

...

Geragos said Cunningham will say he never believed he was being bribed by Wilkes. When Halpern started to object to that statement, Geragos told Judge Larry A. Burns that jurors would hear it from Cunningham himself.

“If they (prosecutors) aren't going to call Cunningham, I assure you I will,” he said.
...

Read more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20071009-1317-bn09wilkes.html

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Mark Geragos up to his old tricks in the Brent Wilkes trial. So, Brent Wilkes never bribed Cunningham, huh? It will be interesting to hear his excuses as the trial goes on on this! I still wonder who's paying Geragos' tab if Wilkes is broke as it was reported earlier!

Wilkes is probably just as guilty as Scott Peterson was of murder, even though Geragos denied both.

I think the trial must be still in progress now today, as this article came out just about a half hour ago... and the Trib had an earlier one out a few hours ago.

[Mabus]

1. What about Cunningham's plea agreement?

Same newspaper from over two years ago:

But what landed Wilkes in trouble with federal prosecutors was his gifts to Cunningham. According to Cunningham's plea agreement, "Co-conspirator No. 1," gave $525,000 to Cunningham on May 13, 2004, to pay off the second mortgage on Cunningham's home in Rancho Santa Fe.

Co-conspirator No. 1 also gave $100,000 to Cunningham on May 1, 2000, which went into Cunningham's personal accounts in San Diego and Washington, D.C. And he paid $11,116.50 to help pay Cunningham's mortgage on the Kelly C.

The plea agreement charged that in return for the payments, Cunningham "used his public office and took other official action to influence U.S. Department of Defense personnel to award and execute government contracts."

Wilkes befriended other legislators, too. He ran a hospitality suite, with several bedrooms, in Washington – first in the Watergate Hotel and then in the Westin Grand near Capitol Hill.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051204/news_1n4adcs.html

[Howardx]

2. lawyer weasel words

it wasnt "bribery" it was a "gift in return for services rendered"

[leveymg]

3. Exactly - the defense goes to the element of bad intent on the part of the briber.

Wilkes was just being generous to his old buddy. Just slap me on the back and buy another round, and another boat, and buy my house for $300,000 over market, while you're at it.

[Supersedeas]

4. never BELIEVE that he was being bribed....wink wink...while he was being bribed