Just once, you'd like to see the political wife step out of character, refuse to play the game. Whatever the state of the Hackel marriage, she has a stake, an interest, in his acquittal. Lawyers say that the wife of a criminal defendant is often, but not always, asked to provide a show of support. How you want it to look. How you want it to play.
Every case is different.
The political wife is accustomed to following a script, speaking on cue, hitting the mark. Better than most of us, she knows that the show must go on. Laura Berman's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.