The doors opened at 10 a.m. sharp, and Rep. Bob Ney, R-OH, walked in.  He patted a reporter acquaintance on the shoulder, then strode to the front and took a seat, joking and talking with the other men at his table.

In happier times, it could have been a friendly conversation over lunch in a House cafeteria.  Or it could have been a power lunch with pals at Signatures, the restaurant just a couple blocks up Pennsylvania Avenue.

But things were different on this Friday the 13th. Abramoff, fallen from grace, awaits sentencing in Washington and Florida on corruption and wire fraud charges.  Ney's conversation partners were attorneys.  And the table at which he sat was not in a House cafeteria, but a federal courtroom at the foot of Capitol Hill.  

A card on the table said all you needed to know in huge block letters: "DEFENDANT."