The lawyer for Sheldon Silver tore into the government's case Monday, saying prosecutors were criminalizing politics while trying to win the former Assembly speaker's conviction for using his office to win millions in legal fees on cases he referred to two law firms.

Steven Molo told the jury in Southern District Judge Valerie Caproni's courtroom that the evidence over the last three weeks, including the testimony of key witnesses, failed to show any kind of scheme involving bribery, kickbacks, or extortion.

It's looking through “dirty windows,” he said of the government's view of Silver's work in Albany. “It's a particular point of view, a theory in search of a case.”