GUILTY: Rod Blagojevich guilty on 17 counts

Story by Chicago Sun-Times
Written by Natasha Korecki and Lark Turner
Photo by AP

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was found guilty Monday of 17 out of 20 federal corruption charges — including all charges tied to allegations that the Chicago Democrat tried to trade an appointment to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Blagojevich had his hands clasped as he listened to the guilty verdicts read aloud in court, then leaned back into his chair as he heard all the guilty determinations.

His wife, Patti Blagojevich, began crying before the verdicts were even read. As each “guilty” was read, she sank into her brother’s shoulder. Aftward, she buried her head in her husband’s shoulder, and he put a hand on her back to comfort her.

The jury of 11 women and one man deliberated for nine days before finding Blagojevich guilty on all but three of the charges he faced at his second trial, adding another chapter to the state’s long history of wrongdoing by public officials.

U.S. District Judge James Zagel did not immediately set a date for sentencing. But he said Blagojevich can’t travel outside the northern district of Illinois without his permission

The ex-governor joins former Illinois governors George Ryan and Otto Kerner in being convicted of corruption tied to their public offices. Former Gov. Dan Walker was convicted of crimes for acts after he left office.

Blagojevich’s conviction — announced before a full courtroom in downtown Chicago that included U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI Chicago Special Agent-in-Charge Robert Grant —means Illinois’ last two governors have been convicted of federal crimes.

Blagojevich was convicted last summer of lying to the FBI, but that jury deadlocked on the 23 other charges he then faced. That charge alone could land him in prison for five years.

This time, with prosecutors offering a streamlined case that included dropping three counts against Blagojevich, jurors were convinced of his guilt on additional charges.

The former governor was the sole defendant in the retrial after prosecutors dropped all charges against the ex-governor’s brother, Robert Blagojevich, who originally faced trial with him.

Of the counts, 11 of them involved the alleged sale of Obama’s vacated Senate seat — nine wire fraud counts, as well as conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion and conspiracy to solicit a bribe. Prosecutors broke down the case into five alleged shakedown schemes, including regarding the Senate seat and charged that he held up official acts on the Illinois Tollway, horse-racing legislation, a school grant and on Children’s Memorial Hospital while demanding campaign contributions.

The jury’s decision in this trial came after Blagojevich made his biggest legal gambit, deciding to take the witness stand in his own defense. Blagojevich did not testify during his first trial.

This time, Blagojevich was on the stand for parts of seven days. He repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and called himself an “effin’ jerk” for the foul language he used that was caught on secret FBI recordings. He also said he consulted with advisers and his lawyer when talking about who to appoint to the Senate seat and wasn’t making a deal to benefit himself. Blagojevich repeatedly testified he had made no final decision on who he would appoint to the Senate seat, but claimed he was close to crafting a deal involving the appointment of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the Senate seat. He said he was arrested before the deal could happen.

In cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar quickly worked to attack Blagojevich’s credibility, asking: “You are a convicted liar, correct?”

It was during cross that Blagojevich admitted that a promised $1.5 million donation offered by supporters of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to name the Illinois democrat to the Senate would have been “absolutely illegal.” But he wouldn’t agree that the offer was an attempted “bribe,’’ as Schar characterized it.

Blagojevich never received the proposed contribution.

But in her closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton said it didn’t matter that the former governor was unsuccessful in getting something in exchange for the Senate seat appointment. The fact that he asked his brother to hold a meeting with the same Jackson supporter who had offered something was enough to find him guilty, she said. She also said Blagojevich broke the law when he asked a union leader and friend of then President-elect

Barack Obama about a Cabinet position while considering top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat.

“The law protects people from being squeezed,” Hamilton said. “The harm is done when the ask is made because that’s the violation of the people’s trust.”

Blagojevich’s jury is made up of 11 women and just one man — something experts initially said would be a bonus for Blagojevich, since many of the women in the last jury were hung on at least some of the counts. The sole male juror in the group is someone the defense had tried kicking off for cause.

“I figured he was possibly guilty, but that was just a guess,” the former Boston native, who works for a drug distribution company, said during jury questioning, though he said he could put that opinion aside.

One juror is a teacher, another once worked as a choral director at a parish with about 3,700 families. Another woman, who laughed at some of Blagojevich’s jokes while he testified, is a bartender and a self-proclaimed “weekend warrior” who loves photography. Another works as a nutritionist and said she moved to Chicago from California to follow her love.