Zimmerman trial will wrap tomorrow

The defense just rested in the corruption trial of former Minneapolis city council member Dean Zimmerman. Closing arguments are slated for tomorrow morning and then the case will be turned over to the jury. The crux of the case hinges on whether the Green Party member illegally took $7,200 in cash from developer Gary Carlson in return for assistance on zoning issues.

The final day of testimony featured Zimmerman on the stand for the second consecutive day, often contentiously sparring with U.S. Attorney John Docherty. During the morning session, the prosecutor attempted to browbeat Zimmerman into admitting that he had repeatedly lied to FBI investigators when they initially interviewed him. The pair repeatedly jostled over exactly what constitutes a lie. "A lie," Zimmeraman stated at one point, "would be something like your opening statement to the jury."

U.S. District Court Judge Ann Montgomery was not amused. She instructed the jury to ignore the statement and warned Zimmerman to limit his testimony to answering questions posed by the prosecutor.