Pete Kott Trial Day 13

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska
Court Calendar for Friday, September 21, 2007

---

9:00 AM	3:07-CR-00056-01-JWS	Judge Sedwick	Anchorage Courtroom 3
USA vs. PETER KOTT TRIAL BY JURY - DAY 13

When I got back to the courtroom after posting during the break, the Prosecution had canceled its rebuttal. So the judge told the jury that he'd thought that possibly they could hear the closing arguments today, but it was better to give both sides the weekend to prepare. He thanked them for listening so diligently, warned them not to talk to anyone about the trial, or to listen to tv or radio news, read newspapers covering the trial, or the internet. Then at about 10:45 he recessed them for a long weekend. We could hear a cheer from the hallway as the jurors walked out.

Then the judge asked how long the defense needed for the closing.
Wendt said, "As much time as the prosecution."
Judge Sedwick: "OK, five minutes for each."
Wendt: "That's fine with me."
Government said it had gone over a little in the last trial, so to be on the safe side they asked for an hour and a half.
Sedwick: Then 90 for the defense. And it's ok if you go 95, but I would like us to finish by noon. I don't want to go on into the afternoon.
They then agreed to meet after lunch today to settle the jury instructions.

I went to the Clerk's office to get the proposed jury instructions. I see now that what I got was Defendant Kott's Objections to Jury Instruction, NOT the judge's proposed instructions. Whoops. Good thing no one's paying for this. All right, this says,

The government has charged Pete Kott with one count of Extortion Under Color of Official Right, or the Hobbs Act, based upon four separate alleged benefits:

1. a promise of a job
2. $1000 in exchange for a campaign contribution to Frank Murkowski
3. $7,993 in inflated flooring to pay Pete Kott Jr. for rnning Kott's re-election campaign, and [I thought the Kott's did hardwood flooring. Is inflated flooring like walking on an air mattress?]
   
4. a poll for Kott's re-election campaign.

Well that's only one of the charges. So apparently they are satisfied with the rest of the language, or they submitted other objections. Anyway, here are photos of the language the defense would like for this charge. Now, it's 4:23, so presumably they have worked out the final language already. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.






Tonight is Erev Yom Kippur so this blog gets to rest until Saturday night at the very earliest.