Feds Won't Retry Rod Blagojevich on Vacated Corruption Charges

posted March 2016

CHICAGO, IL — The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago has asked a federal judge to re-sentence Rod Blagojevich, confirming Wednesday that prosecutors won't retry the former governor of Illinois on the five charges vacated on appeal last year.

In 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on 18 corruption charges — including his attempt to "sell" Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat after his election to the presidency — and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Blagojevich, 59, was famously heard on a federal wiretap talking about the appointment he could make and what he could get in exchange, saying "I've got this thing and it's f---ing golden."

In July 2015, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago tossed out five of those convictions but affirmed the others.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Blagojevich's appeal on the remaining convictions, a case that could have had implications for political dealmaking nationwide had the justices considered the case.

His attorneys argue: "... the line between legal and illegal trading of political favors has become blurred, potentially leaving politicians everywhere subject to prosecution."

Many legal observers, as well as friends of the former Democratic governor, believe the 14-year prison term imposed by Judge James Zagel was too harsh.

Terry Sullivan, an attorney with thesullivanfirmltd.com, speaking on WGN News earlier this week, suggested that the late Justice Antonin Scalia would have wanted to weigh in on this case due to its implications for political fundraising across the nation. Scalia could have been the voice among the Supreme Court justices that would have brought to the case to the nation's high court for vetting, Sullivan said.

Also on Patch

• Blagojevich Pens Letter to Daughter from Prison: 'So what that I won't be home to see the Cubs make it to the Promised Land'
• Rod Blagojevich Guilty of Corruption; Illinois Politicians Share Reaction
• Local Woman on Blago Jury Says Former Governor Rightly Convicted

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Blagojevich is hoping a new sentence could dramatically lessen the time he spends behind bars. He and his defenders have always maintained that the political horse-trading he engaged in was common among politicians and not illegal.

The governor was hoping for an appointment to Obama's cabinet. At one point, he even speculated about whether he could or should appoint himself to the Senate seat.

He was impeached by the Illinois House, tried by the Illinois Senate and removed from office in 2009 by a unanimous vote of the state's 59 senators.

After leaving office, he appeared in the 2010 season of Donald Trump's "The Celebrity Apprentice." Trump fired him.

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In another development, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit this week against the Justice Department seeking release of interviews with Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel conducted as part of the FBI investigation into Blagojevich's activities.