HAMMOND | Although at least four witnesses said Robert Cantrell was in the courtroom during the political operative's June fraud trial, none of them physically pointed to him at the defense table.

Defense attorney Kevin Milner said the failure was a fatal error that undermined prosecutors' case against Cantrell and invalidated the 11 guilty verdicts that eventually resulted.

But in a brief filed Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Orest Szewciw said Milner's claim was "preposterous" because Milner himself opened the trial by telling the jury it was his "privilege" to defend Cantrell against the charges.

Then the jury also saw Cantrell's own son, John, testify about "his dad" and look in the direction of the defense table while speaking.

And when U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano asked "Mr. Cantrell" to agree to certain facts during the trial, the court record states that the person next to Milner at the defense table gave an "affirmative nod."

"(Milner) made a strategic decision not to pursue the preposterous claim that his client -- one of the most notable Lake County political operatives during the past 30 years -- was not actually the 'Robert Cantrell' of Lake County politics," Szewciw wrote.

Lozano has held off on making the jury's verdict official until the identification issue is resolved. No sentencing hearing has been set.

Neither Cantrell nor Milner has made any comments about the case since the verdicts of guilty on all counts: four charges of mail fraud, three charges of insurance fraud and four charges of tax evasion.

The trial came after years of federal investigations into Cantrell's political machinations. Even after the case was presented to the jury, Cantrell was openly telling family members in the courtroom that jurors would acquit him in short order.

Cantrell, 66, of Schererville, is a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War and was known in his youth as a stand-out basketball player in high school and college. He led the 1960 East Chicago Washington High School team to a state championship.

Cantrell's critics described him at trial as a greedy manipulator who used his extensive contacts in the world of Lake County judicial politics to enrich himself, regardless of whether his actions would undermine public confidence in the judiciary.

Though he spent decades organizing East Chicago Republicans, Cantrell has admitted to collaborating with the city's Democratic power brokers and officially declared himself a Democrat in 2003.