Will political operative 'flip'?
U.S. attorney: Cases against unelected public servants will continue
NWI Times
Jun 10, 2008
nwitimes.com/news/local/will-political-operative-flip/article_c87240fb-e67e-5d1b-ba4c-b5c3f8d036a9.html
HAMMOND | Friday's 11 guilty verdicts against longtime Lake County political operative Robert Cantrell probably made politicians across the county issue a collective "gulp," Republican observers said Monday.
But several Democrats said Cantrell, 67, was not the kind of person who would flip and become a government witness in order to save himself some time in jail.
U.S. Attorney David Capp said he was proud of the Cantrell case because it targeted a new class of public corruption offender -- those who are not elected, but still exert influence on public dollars.
"You don't have to be an elected official to commit these kinds of offenses," Capp said. "We're focusing on all aspects of the problem."
Cantrell has been an influential behind-the-scenes political player for decades, but never has won public office.
It's not clear how much prison time Cantrell realistically faces because of the complexities of federal sentencing guidelines, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Orest Szewciw said "it's not going to be insignificant."
Cantrell was convicted of all 11 public corruption crimes he was charged with, but he still has one last chance for acquittal before he has to decide whether to file an appeal.
During the gap between the prosecution and defense phases of the trial, defense attorney Kevin Milner said prosecutors failed to have any of the dozens of witnesses in the six-day trial positively identify Cantrell in the courtroom.
U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano refused to reopen the trial's prosecution phase so that a government witness could identify Cantrell, and Milner did not put a witness on the stand during the defense who could be cross-examined.
Joe Hero, a St. John Republican who sparred with Cantrell before Cantrell officially became a Democrat in 2003, said Cantrell told him during a chance encounter at a restaurant Sunday that he was putting his hopes in the identity issue.
"I think there are probably a lot of Democrats that are shaken by this. Bob Cantrell has long legs that will go into every corner of Lake County politics," Hero said.
Cantrell's sentencing is four months away, on Oct. 19. Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley said that's enough time to give Cantrell a chance to decide whether to give up information on other influential figures.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., a Democrat who was mentioned briefly in the trial as a Cantrell associate, said Cantrell would never cooperate with prosecutors.
"He's not that kind of guy," McDermott said. "Bobby Cantrell is old school. He's not going to flip."
McDermott said he is sad for the Cantrell family, who he knows personally. Although the mayor knows Cantrell is "not an altar boy," he was shocked at the conviction, attributing it to pervasive anti-government sentiment among the population at large.
"To me, it didn't seem like the government had that strong of a case," McDermott said. "It was a bad environment, with people so angry about taxes and gas prices. People are just lashing out. If you're accused of public corruption, it's a bad environment to go before a jury."
No comments:
Post a Comment