HARRISBURG -- Defense attorneys in the Bonusgate corruption case say their clients are not criminals, but victims of a political culture that has existed for decades.

They are not architects of scheme to use public resources for campaign work, but scapegoats, the attorneys said.

That was the theme of the defense's final pitch to jurors who hold in their hands the fate of former state Rep. Mike Veon and three former aides who could face jail time if convicted.

Jury deliberations are expected to start today after Senior Deputy Attorney General Patrick J. Blessington delivers the prosecution's closing argument.

"This is one of the most significant cases to occur in Dauphin County in many years," said attorney Bill Fetterhoff, who represents defendant Stephen Keefer.

His client, along with Mr. Veon and aides Brett Cott and Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, is charged with multiple counts of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest.

At the heart of the case is a scheme to award taxpayer-funded bonuses to House Democratic staffers who worked on political campaigns. The aim was to entice other staffers to volunteer as word got out that colleagues who had worked on campaigns got bonuses, some for more than $15,000.

Defense attorneys don't dispute that the scheme existed, but say their clients had no part in creating it. That they did nothing to stop it does not make them complicit, Mr. Fetterhoff said.

Mr. Keefer "is not a hero," he said. "He is an ordinary man. ... Because Steve Keefer is not a hero does not mean he is a criminal."

Dan Raynak, an attorney for Mr. Veon, said there was no logical reason Mr. Veon would have been involved in the bonus scheme because there was never a shortage of volunteers willing to help on his campaigns.

"Mike Veon didn't need bonuses for volunteers. He had hundreds of volunteers," Mr. Raynak said.

But Mike Manzo, a former top caucus aide and star witness for the prosecution, said he and Mr. Veon conspired to create the bonus scam.

Mr. Raynak said that assertion -- like those of most other prosecution witnesses -- is tainted because it came from someone who had a deal with prosecutors. Mr. Manzo, who admitted creating a state job for a mistress, was charged in the Bonusgate case and testified as part of a plea agreement.

Mr. Raynak focused his three-hour closing argument on discrediting prosecution witnesses, who -- borrowing the title of a Cher song -- he called "gypsies, tramps and thieves."

"Would you believe individuals who lied to [investigators], who gave fake jobs to girlfriends, who gave themselves bonuses, who lied to their wives?" Mr. Raynak asked jurors.

Attorneys for the other defendants, meanwhile, said their clients had no authority to authorize bonuses or to direct anyone to do any campaign work.

Mike Palermo, attorney for Mrs. Perretta-Rosepink, said his client was a victim of circumstance, not an architect of any plan to defraud taxpayers.

Similarly, Mr. Fetterhoff told jurors that Mr. Keefer "is a victim in this case. He isn't a criminal. He is a victim of a world he did not create and did not control."

Mr. Fetterhoff said the two years leading up to the trial have been stressful, expensive and consuming for his client.

"He is a good and decent man, and I am asking you to give him his life back," he said.

Mr. Veon, 53, represented Beaver County in the Legislature for two decades. He now lives in Harrisburg. He faces 59 criminal counts.

Mr. Cott, 37, of Harrisburg, worked for Mr. Veon as a legislative research analyst. He was charged with 42 counts.

Mrs. Perretta-Rosepink, 47, of Beaver Falls, was manager of Mr. Veon's district office for many years. She was charged with 22 counts.

Mr. Keefer, 39, of Lebanon County, is the former director of information technology for the House Democratic caucus. He faces 16 counts.

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