Legal Commentary

Blagojevich Jury Foreman Describes Jury Split

By Jeralyn

According to James Matsumoto, jury foreman in the trial of Rod and Robert Blagojevich, the jury's split was different for different counts.

On at least one count, the jury was 11 to 1 for conviction. On other counts, the split was wider. (Another juror told the AP the jury was split 11 to 1 for conviction on the senate seat charge.)

On the attempted extortion count (#14), initially they resolved that count for conviction, but one woman changed her mind after the jury reviewed the testimony of Former Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk.

So the initial counts decided were false statements and attempted extortion, guilty on both, but a juror changed her mind on the attempted extortion, leaving only the false statement charge. [More...]

The foreman says he would have convicted Rod on all counts. There's no mention in this article about Robert Blagojevich, but in this one, the jury foreman says he would also have convicted Robert on all counts.

All my reading tea leaves were for naught. I thought the two counts they agreed on were the RICO counts, and they voted not guilty.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 17, 2010 (boomark / email).