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Posted on Tue, Mar. 17, 2009

Fumo jurors struck by "overwhelming evidence"
By Emilie Lounsberry and Craig R. McCoy
Inquirer Staff Writers

In the end, the verdict against Vincent J. Fumo was a resounding affirmation of the federal government's case against the once-powerful lawmaker.

Count by count, the jurors rejected Fumo's testimony, rejected the central themes of his defense, and rejected his lawyer's promise back in October that they would conclude that the prosecution's evidence was "decidedly one-sided and grossly distorted."

For 13 minutes, the word guilty rang out over and over in the hushed courtroom as Fumo was convicted of all 137 charges against him. His codefendant, Ruth Arnao, was found guilty of all 45 counts against her.

In interviews after the verdict, jurors said they were struck by the totality of the evidence in the case, including more than 1,300 e-mails and other documents presented by federal prosecutors.

"I was hoping to find some reasonable doubt, and it was so difficult," said juror Myrna DeVoren of Haverford, Montgomery County. "The evidence was so clear."

"The overwhelming evidence was there," said juror Greg Brecker of Souderton, Montgomery County.

He, too, said they had looked for ways to acquit. "We were trying to find him innocent on at least some of the counts," said Brecker, who works as government liaison for a union.

For nearly an hour, the jurors talked about the case against Fumo, the experience of serving on a high-profile case, and the process of sifting through the evidence after listening to more than four months of testimony.

"It's unreal, just how long the process was," said Kaylyn Fain, 25, of East Greenville, Montgomery County, who works at Thomas Jefferson University.

Several said they viewed Fumo as a politician who seemed to have started off with good intentions but eventually crossed the line.

"My sense is he started out to be fair and accountable, and I heard a lot of good things," said DeVoren. But gradually, she said, she saw a different view of him.

"All of a sudden, it just started to shift," said DeVoren, who found herself thinking, "What happened to caring and helping?"

"OPM," said juror Betty Burkett, a retired social worker, referring to the trial's famous acronym for "Other People's Money" - which one witness quoted Fumo as having said he liked to spend.

"Greed," said juror Antoinette Randell, a lab technician from Perkasie, Bucks County.