Kott Trial Day 14 - Prosecution Closing II

Nicholas Marsh took over for the final part of the prosecution's closing argument.

[Added Sept 25 - audio links to Mr. Marsh's rebuttal, from the ADN website
Prosecutor rebuttal, Nicholas Marsh: - Part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

11:43am Nick Marsh:

Court is going to instruct, this is your case to decide. We aren’t supposed to ram things down your throat. I’d like to talk about evidence.

Wendt said pk never took anything from these men. Respectfully, we know he got $1000 in cash $7K in check, a poll. We know he got them from ba. Did you believe that pk never got anything from these gentleman? Does that make any sense with what you heard?

First talk about credibility. Govt. views this as a case about public trust. Mr. K. repeatedly violated the public trust by doing his job and getting paid by ba and rs and knowing he’d get a job at the end. Also about garden variety of trust. We request you do that especially with Kott.

pk - you’ve heard 11 months of recordings, but all those are lies, not true, or rantings of alcoholic. What he wants you to believe instead, what he told you on the stand.

Voting record - pk wants you to believe, because he told you. He decided that 22% was the right rate. When it first came up, he voted no because it was an important bill and he wanted an absent colleague, mr Moses to be there. After he voted yes because he thought 22% was the right thing. But neither was true.

In between those votes, exhibit. 135 to reopen the bill and vote on 22.5, if he really wanted Moses to vote on that, pk would have voted yes. On Aug 10, 9:11 pm he voted no, not giving Moses another bite at the apple. He said because of his deep seated commitment. He voted no, red button. Nay. After voting closed and it passed 23-17. Vote didn’t matter. He’s running for reelection. Then he said I’m going to change my vote, change from nay to yeah> When he said that, do you believe him?

Same thing in May special session. Lot of votes pk didn’t provide. By the way G. says, absolutely the voting record backs up our case. Other votes in June that wendt didn’t mention.

Didn’t tell you about early votes kott cast to keep votes low. When he did BW rescinding vote, pk made that motion to keep that rate from going up from 20/20.

[talking quietly and gently. but starting to get louder. Looking the jury in the eye]

Tape: We’re gonna get weyhracuh. Gotta do 21 to keep them from getting 22.5? Yeh. That’s what I figured. It’s still 20/20.

That’s what pk was telling rs. When he told him he put it to 21. Not because he believed the 21%, he was trying to kill the amendment. Kelly withdrew the amendment. It had the effect. At the end of may, they couldn’t have house get 22.5, because they would have concurrence with senate.

Mr. K told you he really believed in 21%, but amendment was withdrawn and it went back to 20/20. If he really believed in that, wouldn’t he have introduced 21.5?. But he didn't’

In june Kott came back and said he was for 20/20 and what he did that day, allowed them all to come back in a later session and get 20/20. And what he did, that mr. k mentioned on the stand, but wendt glossed over. Mr. Kott, moved to adjourn the house at the end of session on June 8. He didn’t want EB to reconsider. They could kill it at a higher rate. If you consider the notion that he didn’t have power. Think about whether you don’t have to have power to shut down the house.

Rep LeDoux said he was 20/20 that’s what he works for. But here today, he was really in favor of the vote that didn’t go the way he wanted. Choices he didn’t know they were being recorded.

Also on credibility. Explanation of $5000. Loan for a truck. No interest rate. No time to pay it back. Whenever he paid the truck. During all the time til Aug 31, pk hadn’t paid back a dime. You know he had $30K in cash in his closet. Does this make sense it was a loan. If you can’t believe on how he voted in office, or about the loan, or about...., what can you believe kott on.

$7,993 pay. Does it make sense he needed it? You’ve seen invoices. X amount added in. Heard phone calls to make a foolproof plan. In trial, pk and family gave you a different story. to do the floor. I admit things that don’t make any sense, invoices, inconsistency. Doesn’t make sense relation to state of the floors.

But timing. Stovern prepared it July 29 that I got the call, $7,993 for the work, If that were the case, this whole deal for the money would have been on July 29. Why are they talking about this on July 30. The conversation about how to pay son was after they got the money. ?? .....
That invoice never made it to veco? Wouldn’t pk have found a way to get that extra invoice to rs? Ms. Stovern told you the way she got paid was through a company name she put on letter head, because she didn’t think it would look good. The way she sought the payment was through something that was patently false.

If it were about flooring, then wouldn’t you think he’d tell that to the FBI on Aug. 30. But that is not what happened. Left with Aug. 30 phone call, that shows money never for real work.

Back to thing about never getting anything from these gentlemen. For him to go to Uncle bill with his hand out, that was a gift. He had $30,000 in cash. Poll, Mackie talked to Mr. Kott about the poll. Mr. Kott said great. talked to pollster about it. pk acknowledged to rs he got a poll. Mackie and I are thinking about getting a secon poll after the media run to see if it was successful. Why would someone who doesn’t believe in polls talk about getting a second one?

$1000 in cash. Wendt suggested not payback. Of course it was. Mr. Allen never told Mr. Kott he never told pk he would pay him back. When pk wrote the check, he never knew would get paid. Getting it when henever knew he would be paid, that’s a gift.

Plan. people come to get together with common plan to get something. Wendt talked about them having a common plan. They can work together. It’s a crime when the lobbyists offer a benefit and the politician accepts the benefits knowing they are related to official acts. I respectfully submit to you to consider the words pk used with allen. Allegiance, I’ll get her done, and this is illuminating, pk described it as a team effort. You know who the roster of the team is? Count one of the indictment pk, ba, rs.

Employment. That’s what’s hanging over all of this. W tried to .. PK says I need a job. RS says you’ve got a job, get the pipeline. Wouldn’t you expect if he thought it wasn’t fair, he should have said no. He spoke about chris knauss. Don’t you think pk knew what they were talking about. And then the implicit stuff. How many times did you hear Barbados. BA told you what that meant.

And just in case you wondered whether pk linked jobs and votes: We gonna get bw. I hear he applied for a job with you. May 5 Not rs making the connection, it’s pk. Do you think he doesn’t know a job is waiting for whoever wanted it if they get the pipeline.

Btween april 18 and May 7 , never heard any tape about ppt. Well you did. BW was in the finance committee. pk was knee deep the whole time. You have to know the whole story.

Things you heard pk did. From LeDoux and EB they never heard threatened or pressured. Those aren’t words you;ll see in the jury instructions. What it means, is he does what he does in his office because they were his job, but because the people who were paying him or wre going to pay him, wanted him to do it.
What you see pk do something in these tapes, every time he supports 20/20, everytime he does something he goes back to them, he wants credit for doing it, because he knows these people will take care of him at the end.
12:12pm

Instructs you on corrupt means, those are the instructions, not what I tell you or what Wendt tells you. You’re left with recordings, real time recordings. Testimony of witnesses, one pk. said countless times, BA never lied. Does it corroborate what you heard on the tapes. What they said on the stand, did they tell you a different story.

End with overwhelming evidence pk used and abused his official role for ba and rs, that he knowingly received things of value, got paid by rs to do things in the legislature.

Thank you. [12:14]