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With years of freedom hanging in the balance, disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday gets his final shot at trying to persuade a federal judge not to send him away for a lengthy prison term.
Blagojevich was expected to address Judge James Zagel on what’s shaped up as the climactic second day of his sentencing hearing. Shortly after he speaks, Judge James Zagel is expected to announce just how long the 54-year-old will spend behind bars for 18 corruption counts that include his attempt to auction off President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.
A prosecutor also will have an opportunity to make a brief pitch to Zagel about why he thinks Blagojevich should go to prison for up to 20 years.
Nearly three years to the day since Blagojevich’s arrest while still in office, the sentencing hearing Tuesday featured an admission by Blagojevich’s attorneys that he was, in fact, guilty of public corruption. For years, the former governor and his team had strenuously avoided acknowledging that.
But earlier Tuesday, Zagel seemed to signal he may be ready to impose a stiff prison sentence, telling the courtroom he thought Blagojevich lied when he testified on the stand at his retrial that he never sought to sell or trade the Senate seat.
One unknown before this week’s hearing began was whether defense lawyers and Blagojevich intended to strike a conciliatory tone or continue to sound defiant, an approach legal observers widely agreed would be a monumental mistake.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo
The defense admission of guilt came as something of a surprise — just days after defense filings declared Blagojevich’s innocence.
While attorney Sheldon Sorosky told Zagel Tuesday Blagojevich committed the crimes, he insisted that none justified anywhere close to the 15- to 20-year prison term prosecutors wanted.
Otherwise known for his jocular personality, the impeached governor-turned-reality TV star cut a somber figure Tuesday. He pulled nervously at his fingers as attorneys spoke, pausing occasionally to sip on a plastic bottle of Cherry Coke.
In an emotional few minutes before proceedings ended Tuesday, defense attorney Aaron Goldstein said locking Blagojevich up for a long time would devastate his wife and two school-age daughters.
When Goldstein began reading a letter from Blagojevich’s oldest daughter, 15-year-old Amy, asking the judge not to lock her father up, Blagojevich seemed to fight to maintain his composure, biting on his lip.
In another letter, Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, asked Zagel to “please be merciful.” She began sobbing when Goldstein played a recording of a giddy Blagojevich calling his younger daughter, who is now 8, and putting on a baby voice, saying “Hey Annie!”
Prosecutors have said Blagojevich hasn’t previously displayed any remorse and has thumbed his nose at the justice system. But Blagojevich’s attorneys said he has already paid a price in public ridicule and financial ruin — proposing a term of no more than a few years.
Blagojevich’s sentencing comes just days before his 55th birthday and three years to the week of his Dec. 9, 2008, arrest. The jury deadlocked in his first trial, agreeing on just one of 24 counts — that Blagojevich lied to the FBI. Jurors at his retrial convicted him on 17 of 20 counts, including bribery.
Among the court attendees Tuesday were more than a dozen jurors from Blagojevich’s trials, including both foremen. Several said they would attend Wednesday also.
After sentencing, Zagel will likely give Blagojevich at least weeks before he must report to prison. Once there, the man heard scoffing on FBI wiretaps about earning a low six-figure salary would have to take a prison job — possibly scrubbing toilets — at just 12 cents an hour.
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Michael Tarm can be reached at www.twitter.com/mtarm
Chicago ——
A federal judge heard pleas Tuesday from Rod R. Blagojevich‘s wife and one of his daughters urging leniency for the former Illinois governor, who was convicted last summer of 17 corruption counts, including an attempt to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate.
“Your honor, I ask you humbly with the life of my husband and the childhood of my daughters in your hands, be merciful,” Patti Blagojevich wrote to U.S. District Judge James Zagel in a letter read to the court by lawyer Aaron Goldstein.
Goldstein then read an excerpt from Amy Blagojevich’s letter to the judge. She also asked for mercy for her dad.
“I need my father,” she wrote. “I need him there for my high school graduation…. I’ll need him when my heart gets broken.”
Earlier, prosecutor Reid Schar called Blagojevich “a very clever criminal,” and defense attorneys conceded that Blagojevich had committed crimes.
Defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky told the judge that Blagojevich committed four wrongs, chiefly the attempted sale of the Senate seat held by Barack Obama until his election as president. Blagojevich made a mistake by asking for a job in return for possibly appointing Obama’s friend, Valerie Jarrett, to the Senate, Sorosky said.
“We accept the fact that’s a crime. It’s illegal. He should not have done it,” Sorosky said.
But Blagojevich’s lawyers contend he was not the leader of a criminal conspiracy and did not profit from the corruption of which he was convicted. They argue that he faces up to a little more than four years in prison under the sentencing guidelines but that he should get significantly less time, perhaps even probation.
Prosecutors say Blagojevich led others through criminal schemes in an attempt to bring in about $1.6 million in tainted campaign money. They maintain he is eligible for up to a life term under the guidelines but recommend he be sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison.
Zagel appeared Tuesday to lean far closer to the government’s recommendation of a sentence than to that of the defense.
“There is no question from his tone of voice that he was demanding,” Zagel said of Blagojevich’s comments on phone conversations secretly recorded by the FBI, the Associated Press reported. “His role as leader is clearly shown by his actions.”
The sentencing hearing is set to resume Wednesday.
CHICAGO (AP) — After all his claims of innocence and facing years in prison, Rod Blagojevich let his lawyers make an admission that he has so far avoided — that he is, in fact, guilty of public corruption.
The former Illinois governor will get a chance to do the same Wednesday, when he is scheduled to address the judge who will decide his sentence.
Judge James Zagel signaled Tuesday he may be prepared to impose a stiff prison sentence, saying he thinks Blagojevich lied when he told jurors he never tried to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for campaign cash or a top job.
Throughout the first day of his two-day sentencing hearing, the impeached executive-turned-reality TV star known for his jocular personality was somber and ill-at-ease, staring down at the floor. His wife sobbed as a letter from their daughter was read begging Zagel not to send Blagojevich to prison.
The hearing was a stark contrast to the circus atmosphere around Blagojevich’s trials on multiple counts of corruption.
The conciliatory tone came as something of a surprise — just days after defense filings that, as many times before, stridently declared Blagojevich’s innocence and said he had been duped by aides but never intended to cross any lines into illegality.
Attorney Sheldon Sorosky told Zagel it was illegal for Blagojevich to ask for a job for himself in exchange for naming Obama’s replacement in the Senate.
“There’s no doubt this is a crime to do this in relation to the Senate seat, we accept that,” he said. “I am just saying that does not call for a 15- to 20-year jail” term as prosecutors have requested.
Sorosky made the same argument when he talked about the other crimes for which Blagojevich was convicted: shaking down a racetrack executive and a hospital executive, as well as lying to the FBI.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Blagojevich ringed his hands and pulled nervously at his fingers, pausing occasionally to sip on a plastic bottle of Cherry Coke. Legal experts believe Blagojevich needs to express remorse for his actions when addressing the judge Wednesday.
Zagel, who has said he’ll pronounce a sentence Wednesday, said early on during Tuesday’s hearing that Blagojevich was clearly the ringleader of the schemes for which he was convicted and that he lied about his actions on the witness stand. The judge made it clear he did not believe a suggestion made by defense attorneys that Blagojevich was duped by aides and advisers.
“There is no question from his tone of voice that he was demanding,” Zagel said of Blagojevich’s comments on phone conversations secretly recorded by the FBI. “His role as leader is clearly shown by his actions.”
And in a harsh assessment of Blagojevich’s performance on the witness stand, Zagel said the former governor was lying when he testified that he planned to appoint the state’s attorney general to Obama’s seat in a political deal that is legal.
“I think this is untrue,” Zagel said. “I thought it was untrue when he said it and I think it is still untrue.”
Defense attorney Aaron Goldstein pleaded with the judge not to impose a lengthy prison sentence — not for Blagojevich’s sake, but for that of his family. In an emotional few minutes before proceedings ended for the day, Goldstein said locking Blagojevich up for a long time would devastate his wife and two daughters.
When Goldstein began reading a letter to the judge from Blagojevich’s older daughter, 15-year-old Amy, the former governor suddenly seemed to fight to maintain his composure, fidgeting with a pen, biting on his lip. An attorney turned to gently pat his shoulder.
Amy wrote that she needs her father for all the things that will happen in her life — graduation from high school, applying to college and when her heart gets broken. In another letter, Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, asked Zagel to “please be merciful” and said the punishment her husband fears the most is not seeing his daughters grow up.
Zagel seemed engaged in what Goldstein was saying as he described Blagojevich as a father. Patti Blagojevich began sobbing, tears streaming down her cheeks, then dabbing her reddened face with a tissue. She closed her eyes tight, tears still rolling down her face, when Goldstein played a tape recording of a giddy Blagojevich calling his younger daughter, who is now 8, and putting on a high baby-like voice, saying “Hey Annie!”
A second defense attorney told the judge that Illinois history of political corruption shouldn’t count against Blagojevich. Carolyn Gurland said it would be unfair to Blagojevich for Zagel to impose a tougher sentence because other Illinois politicians, including former Gov. George Ryan and U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, have been sent to prison for corruption.
“The law is clear that he should not be punished because of the history of corruption in Illinois,” she said.
If Blagojevich gets the 15 to 20 years in prison, she said, he would become the most severely punished public official in state history.
Prosecutors say the twice-elected governor not only shirked all responsibility for his crimes but repeatedly thumbed his nose at the U.S. justice system. Blagojevich’s attorneys have said he has already paid a price in public ridicule and financial ruin, and propose a term of just a few years.
Gurland also argued that Zagel should take into account the fact that Blagojevich did not “receive a single penny” in ill-gotten gains, unlike other politicians convicted of public corruption.
“Rod Blagojevich received nothing,” she said, adding that Blagojevich was doing what politicians do by seeking campaign contributions and not “money stuffed into envelopes.”
Blagojevich and his wife knew they were setting themselves up for ridicule by appearing on reality television shows, she said, but they did so to provide for their children. Blagojevich appeared on “Celebrity Apprentice,” where he struggled to use a cellphone, and his wife ate a tarantula on the reality show, “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”
Blagojevich’s sentencing comes just days before his 55th birthday and three years to the week of his Dec. 9, 2008, arrest. The jury deadlocked in his first trial, agreeing on just one of 24 counts — that Blagojevich lied to the FBI. Jurors at his retrial convicted him on 17 of 20 counts, including bribery.
Among the court attendees Tuesday were more than a dozen jurors from both of Blagojevich’s trials, including both foremen.
After sentencing, Zagel will likely give Blagojevich weeks before he must report to prison. Once there, the man heard scoffing on FBI wiretaps about earning a low six-figure salary would have to take a prison job — possibly scrubbing toilets — at just 12 cents an hour.
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Michael Tarm can be reached at www.twitter.com/mtarm
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Lawyers for disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich asked a federal judge on Tuesday to show mercy in sentencing him for his federal conviction on multiple corruption counts.
The lawyers said Blagojevich did not profit personally from his conduct and his family would be devastated if he is sentenced to a lengthy prison term.
In court filings, prosecutors said they seek 15 to 20 years for Blagojevich, convicted by a jury in June of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by then president-elect Barack Obama for personal and financial gain, and for seeking jobs and campaign contributions in exchange for state action.
“He doesn’t deserve mercy because he has a family,” attorney Aaron Goldstein told the judge during an entire day of arguments from the defense. “His family deserves mercy.”
Quoting from a letter Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, sent the judge, Goldstein said: “The punishment he fears the most, the one that is most devastating, is that he would not see his daughters grow.”
U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, appearing at times impatient during three different defense lawyers’ arguments, said Tuesday morning he will consider the financial benefits the former governor would have received from the Senate seat trade and other government actions if federal authorities hadn’t arrested him before the deals went through.
“It was a price he put on it,” Zagel said. “A price he expected to receive.”
Zagel said just because Blagojevich did not get “money in his pocket” does not mean he should be spared punishment for the attempt to get campaign contributions in exchange for official actions.
“Failure to complete an offense doesn’t lessen the defendant’s culpability,” Zagel said.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing Blagojevich sought $1.5 million in campaign contributions from supporters of Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., in exchange for appointing him to the Senate seat, and that the then-governor sought a cabinet post or a high paying Washington job in exchange for appointing Obama’s choice of Valerie Jarrett.
SHAKEDOWNS
He was also convicted of attempting to shake down the head of a children’s hospital for campaign cash in exchange for authorizing an increase in doctor reimbursement fees, and for shaking down the head of Illinois racetracks in exchange for approving legislation favorable to the industry.
Going through each of the schemes for which Blagojevich was convicted, lead defense lawyer Sheldon Sorosky said none warranted a sentence of 15 to 20 years. The hospital reimbursements and the racetrack legislation were all approved and Blagojevich did not receive a dime, Sorosky said.
Federal authorities, who had been taping Blagojevich’s conversations with aides, arrested him in December 2009, before he could complete the crime, prosecutors have argued.
More than 130 people filed into the ceremonial courtroom at the Federal Dirksen Building in Chicago to watch the start of the sentencing hearing, which will continue on Wednesday with the prosecution’s presentation and finally a statement from Blagojevich himself before the judge hands down a sentence.
The defense tried to lessen any additional time Blagojevich could get under the federal sentencing rules for his attempts at profiting and for being in a leadership role in the corruption scheme, which involved some aides who pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government in exchange for leniency.
The lawyers said Blagojevich should not be treated harshly since he did not profit. And they said he was surrounded by experienced political players egging him on in his schemes.
They also described Blagojevich in another context — that of a loving wife and father to two young girls.
Attorney Goldstein read from a letter his daughter, Amy, had written to the judge saying: “I will not be able to handle my father not being around. I need him to be here for my high school graduation. I need him if I don’t get into college … I’ll need him if my heart gets broken.”
Richard Kling, a clinical professor at Chicago Kent College of Law, said after court recessed that the challenge for Blagojevich on Wednesday when he addresses the judge will be to toe the line between admitting guilt and being sorry.
“If he comes in and admits he’s guilty, he jeopardizes his appeal,” Kling said. “And if he says he didn’t do it, he will engender the wrath.”
The flamboyant two-term Democrat was thrown out of office in 2009.
Blagojevich was tried twice — first in August 2010, when he was convicted of one charge of lying to investigators and jurors deadlocked on 23 other counts. After a second trial this year, he was convicted of 17 of 20 counts.
(Editing by Jerry Norton)
