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Blagojevich trial & sentencing
#21


This was profiled very briefly last night on Larry King & someone implied there was something fishy going on given there is an audio tape as evidence of his guilt in trying to sell that seat.
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#22
aww, he's broke. 34

Washington (CNN) - The impeached former Illinois governor, who'd previously been accused of trying to sell President Obama's senate seat, filed a motion on Wednesday to dismiss a second trial that was set to begin April 20.

In the motion, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich asked a federal judge to instead sentence him on the single conviction from his first trial. The former governor said that doing so will save taxpayer money - and save him money from mounting legal fees.

CNN obtained a copy of the motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

"The government's continued prosecution of this case should cease," the document states. "This case was tried once, at a full trial which lasted over two months."

Last August, Blagojevich was found guilty of lying to the FBI, but escaped convictions on 23 other counts.

"While Blagojevich still maintains his innocence on every charge, he stands convicted, after the first trial, of the offense of making a false statement," Blagojevich's motion continues. "He must be sentenced on that conviction. This offense carries a potential significant jail sentence."

The one count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

It goes on to say that a second trial would be "an irresponsible use of taxpayer funds in light of the current economic crisis." The first trial was paid for by a legal defense fund for Blagojevich. The second trial would be funded by taxpayers.

Blagojevich would face 17 public corruption-related charges in any second trial.

Perhaps most telling in the motion is an apparent admission about Blagojevich's own economic situation.

Regarding a possible second trial, the motion states, "To date, defense counsel have been working on the Blagojevich case for almost nine months without pay. This has caused a significant hardship and has deprived Blagojevich of his right to effective assistance of counsel."

It also mentions that money to fight the first trial ran out near the end. Lawyers "received only partial compensation (one-fifth of payment) for the last month of trial, July 2010."

The claim that Blagojevich tried to sell the president's old U.S. seat was never proven. That and other accusations against him helped lead to his January 2009 impeachment as the governor of Illinois.


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#23
6/20/11


AP
CHICAGO — Jurors at the corruption retrial of ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich are deliberating.

Monday’s the first full day of sorting through evidence for the 11 women and one man on the jury.

They deliberated for several hours Friday after receiving copies of jury instructions.

At the first trial, jurors deliberated for 14 days over a three-week period. But they deadlocked on all but one charge.

Retrial jurors include a librarian, school teacher and dietitian.

They are deciding on 20 counts, including charges that Blagojevich tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

And both prosecutors and the defense told jurors to listen to the FBI wiretap recordings that underpin the charges during deliberations. That alone could take a day or two.

















































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#24
verdict coming in.

CHICAGO – Jurors deliberating in the corruption trial of ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich told a judge on Monday that they have reached a verdict on 18 of the 20 counts against him, and attorneys in the case have agreed that the verdict should be read.

Judge James Zagel said that will happen Monday afternoon.

The jury had returned to the federal courthouse in Chicago on Monday after nine days of deliberations. They had been talking over the evidence in the case over a three-week period.

















































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#25
Blagojevich Found Guilty on 17 of 20 Counts, Including Trying to Sell Obama's Senate Seat Smiley_emoticons_hurra3

"I frankly am stunned," an uncharacteristically muted Blagojevich told reporters as he left the courtroom hand-in-hand with his wife. "There's not much left to say, other than we want to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and then try to sort things out. I'm sure we'll be seeing you guys again."
Chicago-Kent College of Law Professor Richard Kling predicted that Blagojevich would wind up being sentenced to anywhere between six and 11 years. That calculation is reached by a mathematical formula, he said. "You punch in who he is, what he did," he said.

* Count 1-Wire fraud related to Children's Memorial Hospital-GUILTY

* Count 2-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 3-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 4-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 5-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 6-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 7-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 8-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 9-Wire fraud related to the Racing Bill-GUILTY

* Count 10-Wire fraud related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 11-Attempted extortion related to School Shakedown-NO VERDICT

* Count 12-Attempted extortion related to Children's Memorial Hospital-GUILTY

* Count 13-Bribery related to Children's Memorial Hospital-GUILTY

* Count 14-Extortion conspiracy related to Racing Bill-GUILTY

* Count 15-Bibery conspiracy related to Racing Bill-GUILTY

* Count 16-Attempted Extortion related to Tollway Shakedown-NO VERDICT

* Count 17-Bibery related to Tollway Shakedown-NOT GUILTY

* Count 18-Extortion conspiracy related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 19-Attempted extortion related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY

* Count 20-Bribery conspiracy related to the Senate Seat-GUILTY




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#26
that water is very relaxing. I have been watching the blago verdict this morning on Fox. It reminds me of Michael Jackson verdict, i watched that on Fox and Scott vomit Peterson. its 5.45am here.
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#27
A former fundraiser to President Barack Obama was sentenced to 10.5 years in federal prison today. Tony Rezko, 56, will end up spending only seven years behind bars because the judge gave him credit for time he's already served.

In 2008, Rezko was convicted of pay to play politics including fraud, bribery and extorting millions from businesses seeking contracts with the state of Illinois while Rod Blagojevich was Governor.

Rezko, a real estate developer, was a well known fundraiser in Illinois political circles. For years he donated money to Republicans and Democrats, including Barack Obama during his campaign for Illinois Senate and later for US Senate. Rezko and Obama first met in 1991 and later engaged in a small real estate deal when Obama bought his home in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Obama later referred to the deal as a mistake.

Rezko's attorneys hoped the judge would sentence Rezko to the 3.5 years he's already served. Prosecutors say Rezko actually refused to cooperate with them after he was first arrested and charged.

"Rezko lied point-blank repeatedly over his first 19 interview sessions about his criminal involvement with Blagojevich," according to a court filing.

Rezko's sentencing of 10.5 years could set a precedent for the upcoming sentencing of convicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich was found guilty on multiple corruption charges during his re-trial earlier this year. His sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday December 6th in Chicago.



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#28
HibyePrison

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.


















































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#29
i'm impressed your honor, Judge James Zagel! 89 [Image: Judge.gif]

[Updated at 1:33 p.m. ET] Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Blagojevich was also sentenced to pay a $20,000 fine.

The judge said he does not have report to prison for 90 days.

In announcing the sentence the judge said Blagojevich's abuse of the office of the governor "is more damaging than any other office in the U.S." besides the presidency.

"I do accept his apology in his testimony, and I do believe he may regret the fate of others," Judge James Zagel said.

But that wasn't enough for the judge.

"It comes late," he said, of Blagojevich's apology.


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#30
PRICK
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#31
All the politicians call each other names.

I tend to believe all of them.

But that's only when they're speaking of their opponent, the rest of the time I remember the old adage about how you can tell when a politician is lying; you can see his lips move.

I don't know why they singled out this dufus when the insurance industry bragged they "lobbied" Congress for 5.5 billion dollars to get obamacare passed. If the countyry weren't so corrupt the records of the insurance lobby would have immediately been supoenaed and investigations begun. Congress and Washington DC are the fastest growing centers of wealth in the world and have been since 2008 when the rest of the world stopped growing. Go figure.
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#32
'tis the Ides of March tomorrow blago Hibye Prison

Chicago (CNN) -- Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will get one last chance to speak his mind Wednesday before he heads to Colorado to start a 14-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction.

Blagojevich has scheduled a news conference outside his house and will use the occasion to say goodbye, his spokesman said. His prison stint begins Thursday.

"Gov. Blagojevich has always stood up and stood tall. He hasn't hid. And he has truly enjoyed being out in public. He never considered 'sneaking' out of Chicago and miss an opportunity to say goodbye," spokesman Glenn Selig said.

"It's difficult to put into words the challenges he and his family now face. But he draws strength from the incredible support he continues to receive from the people of Illinois and beyond."

















































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#33
He's an A grade looking sleazebag...like the kind of guy that hangs around the bottom of the escalators. Or out the front of a school with a bag full of lollies. I wouldn't trust him with bus fare...
“Two billion people will perish globally due to being vaccinated against Corona virus” - rothschild, August 2021
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#34
he's a scumbag. and his wife should be going with him.
it's a shame we probably won't get to see him in cuffs tomorrow.
i hope it's not the usual country club prison that dirty pols get to attend.

Chicago (CNN) -- Crowded by sign-wielding supporters, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich made what's expected to his final speech before he heads to Colorado to start a 14-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do," he told the crowd. "But this is the law and we follow the law." when it suits us or we have no choice.

Blagojevich was convicted of corruption in June 2011 after a jury returned 17 guilty verdicts against him. Among other allegations, he was accused of trying to profit as he considered whom to appoint to take Barack Obama's open Senate seat.

Blagojevich called his impending prison stint a "dark and hard journey," and said he should have been more humble.

"We are so grateful and will never ever forget your kindness to us," he told the crowd, which occasionally chanted slogans such as "Free our Governor."

"We are so grateful and will never ever forget your kindness to us."

His wife, Patti, remained cinched under his arm, squeezing back tears as the former governor spoke outside his Chicago home.

"This, as bad as it is, is part of a long and hard journey that will only get worse before it gets better," Blagojevich said, telling his wife that he loved her.

His prison stint begins Thursday.

















































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#35


LC, in your opinion will he do the whole fourteen yrs.?
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#36
(03-14-2012, 07:56 PM)Duchess Wrote:

LC, in your opinion will he do the whole fourteen yrs.?

i don't know how the sentence was ordered/written. i honestly have no idea.


















































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#37


Thanks, I only ask because many times I've heard of people being sentenced to a number of years only to read at a later date they have been released years early.
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#38
(03-14-2012, 08:19 PM)Duchess Wrote:

Thanks, I only ask because many times I've heard of people being sentenced to a number of years only to read at a later date they have been released years early.

they gain "good time" or "gain time" off their sentences for good behavior. it can be a considerable amount.


















































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#39
He'll most likely go to Englewood outside of Denver. It is a FPC (Federal Prison Camp) in other words a minimum security prison.

This link explains the US Federal Prison security

http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/index.jsp

An article describing life at Englewood:

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/c...source=rss

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#40
he's on the plane now.

When Blagojevich walks into prison Thursday — the state's second former governor in federal prison, joining George Ryan, who was also convicted of corruption charges — he will undergo a full-body strip search and hand over his personal belongings, save for his wedding ring. The man with a taste for fine Oxxford-label suits will be given khaki prison garb and boots.

Then, he will become Inmate No. 40892-424.

The 55-year-old married father requested the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in suburban Denver. Although a minimum-security facility, it looks every bit a prison: stone buildings are institutional beige, the grounds encircled by high razor-wire fencing. Blagojevich, leaving behind his wife and two daughters in the family's spacious Chicago home, will share a cell the size of a large, walk-in closet with up to three inmates.

Inside, Blagojevich's life will be strictly regimented. The impeached governor — who was heard on the FBI wiretaps scoffing at the idea of earning a low six-figure salary — will work a menial prison job, possibly cleaning bathrooms or doing landscape work, starting at 12 cents an hour.

Under federal rules, inmates must serve at least 85 percent of their terms before becoming eligible for early release. That's nearly 12 years for Blagojevich, though his term could be reduced if he successfully enters a substance-abuse rehabilitation program, which his lawyers requested and the sentencing judge recommended without explanation.


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