CHICAGO —
Patrick Fitzgerald has prosecuted mobsters, terrorists, a White House aide and two Illinois governors.
On Thursday, the former top prosecutor got a crack at Socrates. Yes, that Socrates, the Greek philosopher.
Fitzgerald, one of the nation’s highest profile federal prosecutors until he recently entered private practice, represented Athens in a do-over of the 399 B.C. trial of Socrates on charges of corrupting the ancient city’s youth and disrespecting its gods.
Socrates’ legal counsel at the mock trial in Chicago — part of a fundraising event for the National Hellenic Museum — was no slouch himself.
It was Dan Webb, a high-priced lawyer who defended former Gov. George Ryan in a corruption case brought by Fitzgerald. Ryan eventually lost at a trial prosecuted by assistant attorneys working for Fitzgerald.
The result Thursday night? Jurors — an audience of around 1,000 people — found Socrates guilty by a narrow vote. They spared the philosopher death by hemlock, however, and called for a fine instead.
As U.S. Attorney in Chicago, Fitzgerald gained a reputation for getting defendants to plead out before trial. But he told The Associated Press by phone hours before Thursday’s event that a last-minute plea deal with Socrates was out of reach.
“Socrates,” he explained, “does not seem to be much of a compromiser.”
In the 24 centuries since Socrates’ trial and execution by poison hemlock, the prevailing sentiment has been that Athens railroaded the 70-year-old gadfly, who was fond of questioning bedrock Athenian assumptions about the world.
Fitzgerald, though, complained that the only extensive account of the trial is from Plato, a student and booster of Socrates.
“I don’t think Athenians ever got a fair shake. Plato only gave one side of the story,” he said.
Impiety was seen as an egregious crime in ancient Greece, Fitzgerald’s co-counsel told jurors Thursday night, because it was thought that an individual’s disrespect of the gods could invite their wrath in the form of plagues that would devastate the entire city.
“He dissed Zeus ... He called the Moon dirt,” said Pat Collins, another former prosecutor representing Athens. “Messing with the gods brings real harm ... The gods have a memory, and they carry a grudge”
One judge presiding over the retrial was Richard Posner, who sits on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Socrates was “a crank” who “encouraged the brats of Athens,” he said, but wasn’t a threat to society.
In that vein, another of the presiding judges said he could only see fit to impose a minimal fine in light of the jury’s decision Thursday night.
“I’d fine him two bucks and let it go at that,” said William Bauer, another federal judge.
The retrial wasn’t meant to be a reenactment and so participating attorneys and judges weren’t required to don togas or other period garb, Fitzgerald said gratefully earlier in the day.
“There are crimes against nature, too,” he laughed. “That would be a crime against nature if we showed up in a togas.”
Top News
Patrick Fitzgerald takes on Socrates at mock trial
-
-
G8 exposes rift among leaders on Syria
Deep differences over Syria’s fierce civil war clouded a summit of world leaders Monday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin defiantly rejecting calls from the U.S., Britain and France to halt his political and military support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s regime.
-
Unions give lift to Turkish protest movement
Turkish labor groups fanned a wave of defiance against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authority, leading rallies and a one-day strike to support activists whose two-week standoff with the government has shaken the country’s secular democracy.
-
For young immigrants, a delayed coming of age
As a child, Jorge Tume used to sit and do homework as his parents cleaned the desks and floors of a concrete company in Miami. When he was done, he’d take out the trash and help finish cleaning.
-
Investigators ‘zeroing in’ on Colo. wildfire start
Sheriff’s officials say they have now recorded more than 500 homes leveled by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history.
-
Still no Hoffa after 1st day of latest search
Federal agents revived the hunt for the remains of Jimmy Hoffa on Monday, digging around in a suburban Detroit field where a reputed Mafia captain says the Teamsters boss’ body was buried.
-
Today in History for Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Today is Tuesday, June 18, the 169th day of 2013. There are 196 days left in the year.
-
Series of attacks kill 51 people across Iraq
A blistering string of apparently coordinated bombings and a shooting across Iraq killed at least 51 and wounded dozens Sunday, spreading fear throughout the county in a wave of violence that is raising the prospect of a return to widespread sectarian killing a decade after a U.S.-led invasion.
-
Turkey unrest goes on despite end to park protest
Riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent anti-government protesters from converging on Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on Sunday, unbowed even as Turkey’s prime minister addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters a few kilometers away.
-
Iraq no-fly zone viewed as symbol for one in Syria
The Obama administration, trying to avoid getting drawn deeper into Syria’s civil war, has pointed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 as a symbol of what can go wrong when America’s military wades into Middle East conflicts.
-
Steady rain falls as crews work against Colo. fire
With evacuees anxious to return, firefighters worked Sunday to dig up and extinguish hot spots to protect homes spared by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado’s history.
- More Top News Headlines
-
