The Fieger trial is one of the rare instances of an alleged reimbursement scheme to come to trial, and coverage of opening arguments is here.

Fieger lawyer Gerry Spence, however, told the jury that his client decided to reimburse employees for donations in a way he thought was legal and didn’t think it violated campaign finance law.

“There isn’t any law that he saw on the books — nor that I saw on the books — that said it was wrong,” Spence said of Fieger, who is best known for representing assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.  Whether Fieger knowingly violated campaign finance rules is a key element that the prosecution must prove for a conviction. Johnson lawyer Steven Fishman told the jury his client did nothing criminal or wrong.”If there’s no crime, which there isn’t, there is no conspiracy,” Johnson said.

I hope the reporting is detailed enough to allow us to learn these arguments, if it’s something other than ignorance of the law.