United States Attorney Preet Bharara has startling white open eyes like a predatory bird excited by the sudden successful sinking of his talons into a startled prey. He even recites the charges with an irrepressible smile of triumph. So it is no surprise that the attorneys for Assemblyman Sheldon Silver argued Bharara’s caws of exhilaration left very little for the presumption of innocence and Judge Valerie E. Caproni of the Federal District Court almost agreed with them as reported in the Times.
In her decision, Caproni wrote: “The US Attorney, while castigating politicians in Albany for playing fast and loose with ethical rules that govern their conduct, strayed so close to the edge of the rules governing his own conduct that defendant Sheldon Silver has a non-frivolous argument that he fell over the edge to the defendant’s prejudice.”
Oh wow, and it would be too bad if we can’t get Silver to explain how he was funneled $4 million for questionable legal services via just two law firms (I mean I would love to see Silver’s invoices.)
Silver’s lawyers Joel Cohen and Steven F. Molo repeated the words that they and Silver use all the time—“ultimate vindication.” I went to the dictionary for the definition of “vindication,” which means “to clear of accusation, censure, or suspicion.”
So they don’t want to prove their client innocent of bribery but innocent of the accusation of bribery. If this is what all politicians do anyway, he is indeed innocent.
