A federal judge is set to decide whether to cut the 14-year prison term given to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich after an appellate court threw out several of his corruption convictions.
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In 2015, the appeals court tossed five of 18 counts and ordered the resentencing. The disgraced former governor appeared in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge James Zagel by video conference from Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood in Colorado, in his first public appearance since he reported to jail in 2012. Another writes about the negativity and hopelessness in prison and said he enjoys his time seeing Blagojevich in the law library to get “my daily dose of encouragement”. “Blagojevich is the only one in modern history in prison for breaking the rules of political fundraising”. In the video, he was dressed in a navy blue prison outfit, sitting in a chair, smiling and fiddling with his hands as he waited for the hearing to begin.
In her two-page letter, she described the pain of Blagojevich’s absence and how he has missed the graduations and piano recitals of the couple’s children – Annie, and an older daughter, Amy.
“I nearly don’t want to grow up because I want to wait for him to come home”, Annie told the court as her father could be seen on the closed-circuit feed wiping his eyes.
Representatives from the USA attorney’s office spoke Tuesday morning at the former IL governor’s resentencing hearing.
They said Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence shouldn’t be reduced despite an appeals court resentencing order.
Twenty-year-old Amy Blagojevich told the court it’s been hard to remain close with her father. “I thank you for the opportunity to speak”, he said.
The five counts dropped past year relate to Blagojevich’s attempt to trade the appointment of a U.S. Senate seat, which opened up after president-elected Barack Obama vacated it in late 2008.
Prosecutors have urged Zagel to impose the same 14-year prison term – one of the stiffest sentences for corruption in IL history.
He was convicted on those charges, and they were affirmed previous year by the appeals court.
A federal appeals court ordered the resentencing previous year after dismissing some of the counts on which Blagojevich was convicted.
“The arrogance and anger are no longer present in this man”, attorney Leonard Goodman told Zagel.
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Prosecutors urged Zagel to impose the same 14-year prison term – one of the stiffest sentences for corruption in IL history, arguing that would send a message to would-be corrupt politicians in a state where four of the last 10 governors have ended up in prison. She added that Blagojevich was the “same man” he was when he was convicted in 2011. His wife, Patti, similarly begged for mercy in a letter sent to the judge Monday night. Deb Mell (33rd Ward), arrived at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago just after 10 a.m.
