By Dennis Wagner | USA Today
TUCSON, Ariz. — Defense attorneys for former U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi told jurors Wednesday that FBI agents decided the congressman was corrupt and then set out to prove it, using witnesses who were pressured or biased against him.
Chris Niewoehner asked jurors to find Renzi not guilty, saying in closing arguments of the monthlong trial that critical testimony against his client had been impeached.
“They’re wrong,” Niewoehner said of the prosecution, “and you know they’re wrong. They want something they’ve been chasing for seven years. All you want is the truth.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino offered an opposite narrative, saying Renzi used his insurance companies and political office in an elaborate conspiracy that included embezzlement, money laundering and bribery.
