Judges to hear arguments in Blagojevich appeal [View all]

[DonViejo]

Source: AP/via Salon


MICHAEL TARM, ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO (AP) — Imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Friday gets what’s likely his last chance to win his freedom as a three-judge federal panel hears oral arguments in his appeal.

A lawyer for the disgraced Illinois Democrat steps before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to ask that it toss Blagojevich’s corruption convictions.

Short of that, Blagojevich’s defense team hopes the court will at least agree to reduce his 14-year prison term — one of the longest sentences ever imposed for political corruption in a state where four of the last seven governors ended up in prison.

FBI agents arrested then-Gov. Blagojevich five years ago this week, on Dec. 9, 2008. A jury convicted him of wide-ranging charges in 2011, including for trying to profit from his power to name someone to President Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/12/13/judges_to_hear_arguments_in_blagojevich_appeal/

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Key arguments in Blagojevich appeal

ASSOCIATED PRESS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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— Blagojevich had engaged in legal, run-of-the-mill “political horse-trading” as he sought a Cabinet seat, an ambassadorship or some other high-paying job for himself in exchange for appointing someone the U.S. Senate seat Barack Obama vacated to become president.

— Trial Judge James Zagel wrongly added years to Blagojevich’s sentence as a result of $1.5 million in campaign contributions that supporters of then-U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. allegedly offered if Blagojevich named Jackson to Obama’s seat. The appeal says there’s no proof such an offer was “accepted, negotiated or even entertained by Blagojevich.”

— Zagel allowed one juror — referred to only as Juror No. 174 — to remain on the panel during Blagojevich’s second, decisive trial, even after he said about Blagojevich during jury selection that, “I just figured him, possibly, to be guilty.”

— Zagel erred by not allowing Blagojevich to argue at his trial that, whether or not he broke the law, he acted in good faith and always thought his actions were legal.

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http://www.salon.com/2013/12/13/key_arguments_in_blagojevich_appeal/