The prosecution contends the people of IL deserve better and that Blagojevich deserves the prison sentence they gave him.
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Rod Blagojevich appeared via a video link before a federal court today, almost eight years after being arrested on charges that made his name synonymous with government corruption.
Inside the courtroom, both his daughters cried as they tried comforting their mom and Blagojevich’s wife.
She added, “I am pleading with you, indeed begging you, to please be merciful”. U.S. District Judge James Zagel had left the courtroom by then.
The glimpse of Blagojevich Tuesday morning is the first official look at the convicted politician since he was incarcerated in 2012.
Blagojevich’s attorneys requested a five-year sentence after an appeals court struck down five of his 18 convictions, requiring he be resentenced.
The wife of Rod Blagojevich is asking a federal judge for leniency ahead of a ruling on whether to reduce the 14-year prison term of the former IL governor.
Blagojevich is scheduled to be released in May 2024.
“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.
“I recognize my words and actions led me here”, he told the court.
Today in federal court Judge JamesZagel said deterrence is paramount and so he reimposed former Illinois Governor Rodrod Blagojevich’s 14 year sentence. They said the people of IL deserve better and Blagojevich deserves his original sentence.
They said some of Zagel’s sentencing calculations were in error, to Blagojevich’s advantage. He said it’s brought him closer to God.
Rod Blagojevich said at his resentencing hearing that he regrets “mistakes and misjudgments” he’s made in the past.
Blagojevich’s wife and brother showed up at court and the former governor appeared via video conference from a Colorado prison.
The remarks came after Blagojevich’s wife made an emotional plea to the judge Monday night by letter.
She went on to praise the couple’s daughters, 20-year-old Amy and 13-year-old Annie, for making statements in court in support of their father. She says she finds the judge’s decision to uphold her husband’s 14-year sentence “unusually cruel and heartless and unfair”. The first images of Blagojevich confirmed rumors: He is now gray-haired. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned five of the corruption convictions in 2015, but maintained convictions related to his sale of a U.S. Senate seat in exchange for campaign donations.
Goodman told the judge that the remaining charges against the ex-governor are “significantly different”, emphasizing that Blagojevich never profited from his actions. He paid for his own clothes, his daughters’ schooling, even baseball tickets, the lawyer said.
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Seeking a five-year sentence that would enable him to leave prison quickly, Blagojevich, 59, apologized for his wrongdoing and the way he “fought back” against the government. “I’m dumbfounded and flabbergasted at the inability for the judge to see that things are different than they were four and a half years ago”.
