Blagojevich began serving his sentence in March 2012, and it was estimated that he would be released in 2024 at the age of 67. A jury could have found that Blagojevich asked the President-elect for a private-sector job, or for funds that he could control, but the instructions permitted the jury to convict even if it found that his only request of Sen.
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An appeals court has overturned some of the corruption convictions of imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
It was not immediately clear if his sentence would be reduced based on the ruling by the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jurors convicted the 58-year-old of 18 corruption counts over two trials.
The court upheld some of those counts and others linked to separate play-to-pay schemes. His appeal, following his conviction, centered on the assertion he had merely engaged in politics as usual. They include the attempted shakedown of the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago for a contribution to Blagojevich’s campaign. He was sentenced to 14 tears in prison at a facility in Colorado. The judges also said Zagel’s sentencing in the first place was perhaps too lenient. The court called the evidence against Blagojevich “overwhelming”.
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At the heart of the convictions were Blagojevich’s attempts in 2008 to make money out of his power to appoint a replacement for Barack Obama, who was leaving his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois after winning the presidential election. The 14-year term was one of the longest for corruption in a state where four of the last seven governors have gone to prison.
