The legal fees that have kept Connecticut Govenor John Rowland out on bail, due to a second feloncy charge, have reached $500,000. Despite his statements that his legal sorrows have practically wiped out the family finances, a few are questioning as to how he can still pay his lawyers who are among the high-powered and most expensive in the business.
According to the Connecticut Post, Rowland faces up to 30 months in prison as he has been found guilty of a felony act, as he had committed illegal dealings with Republican Lisa Wilson-Foley during her campaign in 2012. Rowland had acted as her poliltical consultant. He has appealed his case and is now released on a bond appeal. His financial capabilities to fund his legal proceedings have become suspect, given his penchant for an expensive lifestyle while he was still in office. His current counsel, Andrew Fish, a specialist in white-collar criminal cases, bills $800 to $1,000 an hour.
Todd Fernow, the director of the Criminal Clinic at the University of Connecticut Law School, says of Rowland's ability to mount an expensive legal defense, "They can land on their feet in ways that mere mortals like you and I can't."
In a related report, the Hartford Courant says that Rowland's admission that he had taken $100,000 from businessmen looking for tax breaks had led to his resignation from office and was sentenced to 10-months in prison in 2004. He was found guilty for a similar offense again in 2014, although he tried to hide his involvement as a paid consutant in the Foley campaign. Rowland appealed his case and has been released on bail.
Meanwhile, CBS Connecticut adds that counsel Fish based his appeal on the argument that prosecutors in the 2014 case broadened their application of laws pertaining to campaign funding in order to snare Rowland. Two of the three judges who heard Fish's argument said that they are inclined to dismiss it.
