The appeal of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s
conviction and 14-year prison sentence has entered its final stage. Blagojevich
was convicted of misusing his powers as Governor of Illinois in 2011 and
believed to be committing “pay to play” schemes, including selling Barack
Obama’s Senate seat after the 2008 presidential election.
On July 13th, 2013, Blagojevich filed an appeal
with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The appeal
cites a judicial predisposition and jury bias. Blagojevich will have to
convince the court that his convictions were unfitting and that the trial could
have had a different outcome.
The former Governor of Illinois was tried twice, in which
the first trial had the jury hung on 23 counts and a conviction for one charge:
lying to the FBI. In his book “Spinning the Law”, Kendall Coffey discussesBlagojevich’s first trial where a juror was quoted saying that “he was just
talking” during his testimony and creating a new “blabbermouth” defense.
In the book, Kendall Coffey states, “…the reality remained
that by arresting Blagojevich before his wheeling and dealing reached actual
stealing, prosecutors left some room for him to claim he may have neared the
line of crime but never crossed it.”
“Unless a ‘smoking gun’ shows stealing, it’s harder to convict
for wheeling and dealing,” is Kendall Coffey’s spinning lesson for
Blagojevich’s first trial.
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| Flickr CC via The Rachel Maddow Show |
In June 2011, Blagojevich was re-tried where he was found
guilty of 17 remaining charges and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
Blagojevich was elected governor in 2002 after serving on
the U.S. House of Representatives for Chicago. Blagojevich has been
incarcerated since March 2012 at a low-security prison in Denver. If his appeal
is not granted, he will remain in prison until 2024.
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