Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is planning to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after being denied a rehearing of his corruption convictions.
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And that’s the plan.
Blagojevich, who will be having a 14-year line for tried booklet from promotion contributers, rope racket along with other offences, had prized a rehearing by the inclusive seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals.
Blagojevich, 58, is serving a 14-year prison sentence at a federal prison in Colorado on convictions including his attempt to sell an appointment to President Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat. Ever since, he and his family have painted the whole trial as unfair.
That same panel previously tossed out five of Blagojevich’s 18 convictions. But that left 13 counts in place and a new sentence could be set soon, meaning he may not be any closer to getting out of prison.
He also said he didn’t see a unique issue that might interest the U.S. Supreme Court.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
Blagojevich’s only remaining option for more counts to be overturned is an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In its July 21 decision, the original appeals panel threw out five of Blagojevich’s extortion convictions on technical grounds and ordered the former governor’s sentence vacated. However, that panel said “it is not possible to call 168 months unlawfully high for Blagojevich’s crimes”.
But Goodman argued two weeks ago that a “question of exceptional importance” exists because the three-judge panel lowered the standard of proof to put politicians in jail.
“What is at stake is nothing less than the rule of law”, he said.
They found Blagojevich crossed that line when he sought money – often campaign cash – for naming someone to Obama’s old Senate seat. “To the extent there are factual disputes, the jury was entitled to credit the prosecution’s evidence and to find that Blagojevich acted with the knowledge required for conviction”, the court wrote. But they said he didn’t cross it by asking for a Cabinet seat for himself. Secretly trading favors based on politicians’ executive powers is legal and is a legitimate mechanism for getting things done for constituents, they concluded.
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The 7th Circuit agrees to such full-court hearings only a few times per year. But he doesn’t think they will.
