In the end, the guilty verdict was saved for those who didn't know they were on trial – specifically Stephen Harper and the control freaks who ran the Prime Minister's Office as the Senate scandal exploded.
In a startling, make it shocking, turn of events, Senator Mike Duffy was cleared of all 31 criminal charges and he was portrayed as the victim of intense heavy-handed damage control by Harper's minions.
There were other victims too as Justice Charles Vaillancourt unleashed from the bench, a verdict filled with opinions he'd kept so carefully hidden during the 63 days of trial proceedings.
The Crown prosecution team should be curled up tonight in a fetal position whimpering for their mommys. The judge made it clear over and over again that the Crown failed to make even obvious charges stick by leaving testimony unchallenged and witnesses uncalled.
And the Senate itself will see its slight resurgence in public esteem come to a screeching halt before it's slammed into reverse again.
The court found the rules governing senator claims to be so lax, Mike Duffy was rendered incapable of making a fraudulent claim.
Personal trainers, contracts for friends, questionable travel, faraway cottages as principal residences, emergency makeup – it's all acceptable expensing because the red velvet administration had never thought to declare anything improper.
The imminent sight of Mike Duffy waltzing triumphantly back into the Red Chamber could well trigger a fury in the land, reviving public opinion that it's just a collection of snouts in the taxpayer trough.
The timing is unfortunate as the Senate morphs into the purpose for which it was intended under the Constitution. Quality appointments freed from party handcuffs are flexing independent opinions aimed at improving flawed government legislation.
That improvement will be forgotten for a while now.
If Mike Duffy's billings behaviour is deemed beyond reproach under the law, then the Senate itself is guilty of taxpayer fraud.
That's the Last Word.
