12-07-2011, 10:56 AM
NBC Chicago
It’s judgment day for Rod Blagojevich.
This morning, federal prosecutors will make their final case for a stiff sentence. Then, the former governor will step into the well of the cavernous ceremonial courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building. And he will make his final plea, directly to the judge who controls his fate.
“I don’t think he can help himself, unless he comes in with the notion, ‘I was terrible, I did all these things they attributed, yes I knew’,” said Kent College Law Professor Richard Kling. “That’s what Judge Zagel seems to be looking for.”
Indeed, on Monday, Zagel declared that he believed Blagojevich had lied on the witness stand when he said during his trial that he was fully prepared to appoint Lisa Madigan to the Barack Obama senate seat, thwarted in his efforts when he was arrested by the FBI.
“I don’t think there was any other deal on the table," said Zagel, who said he was convinced, after hearing the evidence, that Jesse Jackson Jr. was Blagojevich’s number one pick for the seat.
Defense lawyers made one last emotional plea to the judge Monday, reading letters from Blagojevich’s wife and daughter. BOO FUCKING HOO
sorry for the daughter, daddy is a dirtbag.
“Your honor, with the life of my husband and the childhood of my daughters in your hands, be merciful,” Patti Blagojevich said in her letter to the judge.
Daughter Amy added, “I need my father. I need him there for my high school graduation. I need him when my heart gets broken.”
For the first time, Blagojevich’s lawyers admitted that their client broke the law. Speaking of the former governor’s efforts to secure a job in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to the Senate seat, attorney Sheldon Sorosky agreed that Blagojevich had stepped over the line.
“He asked for a job in return,” Sorosky said. “We accept that’s a crime, and he should not have done it.” But Sorosky argued the crime did not merit the 15- to 20-year sentence prosecutors were seeking.