"The prosecution sees them only with one eye, and it's the evil eye," famed Wyoming defense lawyer Gerry Spence told jurors in his opening statement before a packed courtroom at U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Spence said powerful people at the Justice Department in Washington decided to go after Fieger, whom Spence described as a good man who fights for the little guy. Spence said the government sent 80 agents to conduct a nighttime raid on Fieger's firm and to question terrified employees in their homes in late 2005 to make a case against Fieger.

Spence also brought Osama bin Laden into his argument:

"You would have thought he was Osama bin Laden," Spence said, calling the case an abuse of justice.

"If the government can do this to Mr. Fieger," Spence added, "they can do this to any of us. ...

"We don't need the powers that be in Washington telling us what to do here," Spence said. "Thank God we have juries like you that don't have to answer to anybody."

Spence has been admonished by the judge for disregarding his ruling on whether federal law expressly prohibits reimbursement:

Spence told jurors the law doesn't contain any language about reimbursement. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman ruled that federal law does ban reimbursement.

While the jury was out of the courtroom Thursday, a visibly irritated Borman admonished Spence for disregarding his Wednesday ruling. When the jurors returned, Borman instructed them on the law and told them Helland works for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, not the Justice Department in Washington.

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