Zimmermann was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity in exchange for his support of a developer's projects. But the man who entered prison contending that he'd been victimized more by overzealous prosecutors than his own wrongdoing said he's looking forward most to "being able to do useful work again."
Doug Grow at Minnpost
Heiser still clearly believes her husband was set up by politically motivated people in Minneapolis and the U.S. attorney's office. It was just weeks before the 2005 elections – which, because of redistricting, pitted Zimmermann against another incumbent, Bob Lilligren – that the Zimmermann-Heiser home was raided by FBI agents.
So, Zimmermann was an innocent victim of a "set-up"?
If Zimmermann was innocent the FBI tapes would exonerate him. But, only one person stands in the way of the FBI releasing those tapes - Zimmermann. Here's an AUSA describing what's in those tapes to the judges of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals:
The 8th Circuit affirmed Zimmermann's conviction unanimously and Zimmemrmann did not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
UPDATE
I went back to read the Strib article and noticed that there were 80 comments. here is a sample:
1. Looks like the FBI already mastered "rat trapping" when
they pinched you.
2. I wonder if Dean is a proponent of evening-out sentencing
disparities between races and between "white collar" and
"street" crimes.
3. Now Go Away! What good are political beliefs if in
practice you are dishonest?
4. Why is it that fat people always think people are actually
interested in how they lost their excess lard? I always
ask them "how did you get that fat?" That seems to shut
them up.
5. Who cares? I don't. He's just another political crook
with no remorse or no accountability for his actions.
Why give him more than his '15 minutes' of notoriety?
Unless he does a Mother Theresa conversion, forget about
him. We have other life issues and things to worry about.
6. The man was given a fair trial and convicted. Will the
residents of MN ever wake up? Why would you subscribe
to a paper that writes such a soft article about a known
criminal? Face the facts, he is a convicted criminal.
Period.
7. Perhaps Mr. Brandt received a gratuity/bribe from
Mr. Zimmerman as incentive to portray Mr. Z as hero
rather than villain.
8. I am amazed at how many people are so self-righteous
these days. They can point out everyone else's flaws
as if they have none of their own. Just because
someone is a public figure, an elected official, and
makes a poor value judgment or action does not mean
they are totally unforgivable, forever. If we cannot
forgive others, how can we truly forgive ourselves?
I'm just making an observation.
9. Dean Zimmermann took the money in question while at a
fundraiser. A fundraiser, people, a fundraiser! Not
once - never! - did he ever vote for the donor's real
estate interests. The only reason Dean was set up was
because he very strongly opposed using our tax money
to build a stadium for Carl Pohlad. And now our tax
money has once again been misused in order to imprison
an innocent man - Dean Zimmermann!
It's too bad that the people who wrote these comments cannot see the videos from the trial. It would clear up a lot of misconceptions.
No comments:
Post a Comment