Law Humor

The jury in the trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has, after two weeks of deliberating, managed to agree on exactly one of the 24 counts alleged in the indictment.  The jury apparently agreed that Blagojevich lied to federal agents, but could not reach a unanimous verdict on anything else.  The judge said he would declare a mistrial on the remaining 23 counts.

Things in the jury room apparently got worse after last week's announcement that the jurors had reached agreement on two counts.  Not only did the consensus on one of those fall apart, this morning the jury actually asked that the text of the oath they took be sent back to the jury room, presumably so one or more jurors could scream that text at the others.

Prosecutors told the judge they planned to retry the other 23 counts "as quickly as possible," although they have until September 7 to decide if they really want to do that.  The sole charge on which Blagojevich has been convicted carries a possible five-year sentence and a fine of up to $250,000.