Vince Fumo / AP Photo/Matt Rourke

When State Senator Vincent Fumo was first charged with a 139 count indictment in February 2007, his attorney at that time Richard Sprague, held a 75 minute press conference to denounce the government’s case against his client. (2 counts were later dropped) He specifically attacked the large number of counts with this charge.

“How do you make headlines as a prosecutor? I know all the tricks of the trade. . . . When you have a weak case, throw in the kitchen sink. Throw everything you possibly can in the indictment. Maybe something will stick.”

The reference of “kitchen sink” always stayed with me because a part of me believed Sprague’s logic. Not that the government had a weak case but that if you throw enough charges he’ll at least get convicted for “spitting on the sidewalk.” So when yesterday’s verdict came down and the former senator was found guilty on ALL 137 counts, I was floored. So, imagine how Fumo must have felt. He may have secretly believed he might get nailed for ordering the mass destruction of emails, but all counts? I had to hear it the verdict being read out loud for myself. I’ve provided a link to the Mp3. It starts with the judge giving instructions before the verdicts are read.

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This morning on Radio Times, Craig McCoy, a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter who helped break the original story that led to this trial, described what it was like to hear the verdict. Here’s his account.

It was funereal, All eyes were on the senator. He just stared straight ahead, you could see sort of his jaw muscle tensing as these were read. It just went on and on and on. And there were certain kinds of landing points because the case fell into four components 1) the state senate fraud 2) the fraud against Citizens Alliance 3) the free yacht trips 4) obstruction of justice. So we were all following along on the jury verdict sheet as they went through the jury. Each time the jury found him guilty of conspiracy in each of these areas, we knew then that he hadn’t beaten anything. Any aspect of the case. I was surprised, I thought the jury would pick and choose a little bit if they came back with a guilty verdict but they didn’t. They found him guilty on every count.

Here is the jury verdict worksheet if you want follow along and see the specific charge for each count announced.. (pdf)

Wow, to listen to the foreperson go one-by-one saying “count 1, guilty, count 2, guilty, count 3, guilty…your mind begins to start noticing little things, the emphasis she puts on certain counts to create almost a musical rhythm. When she gets to “count 11, guilty” it almost sounds like she knows what people in the courtroom are beginning to realize, Fumo is really going to jail. By the time we get to count 70 and Fumo has been found guilty of every single count, you know you’re listening to a historic moment in Pennsylvania political history. The once invincible Vince has fallen.

If you listen to the verdict audio, let us know what your thoughts were as the guilty verdicts keep piling on.