Rod Blagojevich A U.S. Appeals Court on Tuesday overturned five of the 18 convictions against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is now serving a 12-year sentence in a Colorado federal prison.
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While finding five of the counts invalid on technical grounds, the court called the evidence against Blagojevich “overwhelming” and made clear that the former governor was not entitled to be released from prison in the meantime. During a 2011 retrial, Blagojevich tearfully told the court that while he was a flawed man, he was not a criminal. But his attempts to trade the Senate seat for campaign cash, however, were illegal, the court concluded. The other upheld counts include attempted extortion for trying to shake down the CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital for a campaign contribution.
The appeals court found that prosecutors failed to prove that Blagojevich attemped to swap President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for a Cabinet position in the president’s administration back in 2008.
The decision shot down Blagojevich’s argument that his sentence was too high and argued that “any error in the [sentencing] calculation went in Blagojevich’s favor”. Turner, who was not involved in the Blagojevich case, said the court “had to jump through a lot of hoops and do a lot of hair splitting” to distinguish between what they said was illegal behavior and what is typical political behavior.
Calls to Blagojevich’s appeals attorneys, as well as former lead government prosecutor Reid Schar, now part of Jenner and Block’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice, have so far been unreturned.
In its ruling, the appeals court pointed to allegations that President Dwight Eisenhower named Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court after Warren offered Eisenhower key political support during the 1952 campaign. The most notorious excerpt was one where he crows about the Senate seat, “I’ve got this thing and it’s f– golden”. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon declined to discuss the ruling, including prosecutors’ next moves. “They’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation”.
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The federal court decision reportedly means that Blago, 58, A.K.A. Inmate No. 40892-424, may not have to serve all of his original prison sentence. Before the appeal, his estimated release date was 2024; he would be 67. The 7th Circuit Court’s opinion said removing the four convictions doesn’t affect the sentencing range.
