Monday, June 27, 2011

Blagojevich Trial Verdict Results

Update-  Guilty! Guilty on 17 counts--
 Blagojevich showed no reaction as the jury announced their decisions. Once the verdicts were read, he sat back in his chair with his lips pursed,  looked toward his wife Patti and whispered, "I love you."

As the first guilty verdict was read, Patti Blagojevich slumped into the arms of her brother, who stroked her head. She kept shaking her head "no" as the jurors left the courtroom, and once the judge was gone, the former governor grabbed his wife’s right hand and hugged and kissed her.
Blagojevich spoke briefly as he and his wife left the federal courthouse. "Patti and I are obviously very disappointed," he said at a bank of microphones. "I frankly am stunned."
"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 try to sort things out," he added. The two then walked to a waiting car as some in the crowd booed.
more here.


UPDATE: Live here.

Disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod "Blago" Blagojevich's trial has now finished. The jury has reached verdicts on 18 counts against him.

From Yahoo:

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.

Blagojevich, 54, has denied all wrongdoing, including allegations that he sought to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat in exchange for

The ousted governor faced 20 charges, including that he sought to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat and schemed to shake down executives for campaign donations.

Blagojevich took the stand at the retrial and denied all the charges.

Jurors at the first trial came back deadlocked after deliberating for 14 days. They agreed on just one of 24 counts, convicting Blagojevich of lying to the FBI.

Despite that, hung juries are rare. According to one federal study, using data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, just 2.5 percent of federal trials from 1980 to 1997 ended hung — a lower rate than for juries in state courts.

When jurors do deadlock, it is often at trials where the charges are complex and where the evidence appears ambiguous, a 2002 federally funded study by The National Center for State Courts found.

"You have both in the Blagojevich case — complexity and evidence that's not straightforward," said Gal Pissetzky, a Chicago defense attorney who tries cases in federal court.

Prosecutors almost certainly factored that in going into the retrial. They streamlined the case by dropping racketeering counts against the ex-governor and dismissing all charges against his then co-defendant brother, Robert Blagojevich.

And at the retrial, they presented just three weeks of evidence — half the time taken at the first trial. They called fewer witnesses, asked fewer questions and played shorter excerpts of FBI wiretaps that underpin most of the charges.

There was also a new variable at the retrial: Testimony from Blagojevich himself. At the first trial, the defense rested without calling any witnesses and Blagojevich didn't testify despite vowing that he would.

But retrial jurors saw a deferential Blagojevich look them in the eyes and deny each and every allegation, telling them his talk on the recordings was mere brainstorming. This time, jurors must decide if they believe him.

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1 comment:

  1. Poor Rod: http://debutopia.blogspot.com/2011/06/rod-blagojevichs-left-shirt-breast.html#more

    ReplyDelete