Legal News

Blagojevich Asks Judge to Cancel Retrial

By (Click The Law)

The impeached former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, asked a judge on Wednesday to cancel his retrial and promptly sentence him on the sole conviction from his first trial, arguing that money woes prevent him from mounting an ample defense.

A five-page motion filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago says Mr. Blagojevich isn't conceding guilt, including on the conviction of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That is the lone count jurors agreed on at his otherwise deadlocked trial last year.

The motion says the former governor, whose legal bills are supposed to be paid by the government, wants to forgo a retrial on grounds that none of his lawyers have been paid for months of pretrial preparations.

"Should this motion be granted...funds for the second trial would no longer be necessary," the motion says. An added bonus, it continues, would be "no further cost to taxpayers."

Mr. Blagojevich, 54, faces a maximum five-year prison term for the lying count. It was widely expected that a sentencing date for that conviction would only be set after the retrial was over.

At that trial do-over, currently scheduled to start on April 20, Mr. Blagojevich faces 20 charges, including that he sought to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat in exchange for a top job or campaign cash.

Full post as published by Click the Law on March 10, 2011 (boomark / email).