Describing his own client as ``incredibly stupid'' and ``such a fool, such an idiot, such a jerk,'' the attorney for accused bribe taker and former Miami-Dade Commissioner James Burke opened closing arguments Tuesday by asserting his client was only trying to help minorities get county contracts.
Well-known Miami defense lawyer Ed Shohat has not yet addressed the videotape of his client taking an envelope stuffed with $5,000 in cash and saying, ``This is a wonderful country.'' Shohat will finish his closing arguments this morning.
Throughout the two-month bribery conspiracy trial of Burke, his former aide Billy Hardemon and California financier Calvin Grigsby, Shohat has attempted to persuade jurors that Howard Gary, Miami bond dealer-turned-FBI snitch, twisted conversations and lured Burke into a government trap because he knew Burke was obsessed with making sure blacks got a fair share of the county's business.
Shohat's clients seem to love videotape and wires...