Blagojevich guilty on one of 24 counts

[Wry Catcher]

I'm wondering what he lied about which garnered the conviction.

That is what makes it so Scotterish. He lied about campaign donations, something all pols receive which is not illegal.
Watching the RW hypocrisy unfold will be very very funny.

 

[loosecannon]

He's guilty of lying to the FBI. Up to five years and a $250,000. fine.

He said even that count was over something that happened 5 years ago.

He was exonerated.

Blago for president in 2012; He may suck but he's mo better than anything your party can deliver!

 

[loosecannon]

I'm wondering what he lied about which garnered the conviction.

he said he kept a firewall between politics and government and didn't pay attention to who was making campaign contributions.

The charge is about as bogus as a thought crime.

But It stuck while 23 others failed.

Do the math!

 

[loosecannon]

he wasnt found not guilty on the other charges
so this isnt over
he could be retried on the remaining 23 charges
too bad the jury couldnt come to an agreement on the rest so it could have settled it and ended his 24 hours of fame

And he could also ask for a retrial that could exonerate him on the one count he was convicted on.

The truth is that the prosecution blew their whole load and can only try to learn lessons from the trial that might yield better results.

Blago's defense didn't even mount a defense so their powder is still dry.

The Blago defense team absolutely kicked ass on the feds. A major league blowout. A Rout.

 

[jillian]

Wonder if he'll actually do time. People walk in Illinois for that, don't that?

Everybody lies, right? I mean, it's the FBI for God's sake!

That was my best recollection of the defense of Bill Clinton and lying. Maybe I missed something

Scooter Libby ring a bell? Similar charge, lets see how the RW responds when the guilty is a D and not an R.

So, your position is that Blago and Libby did the same thing? Really?

From my recollection, this was about all Libby was charged with. Blago had 24 counts against him and this is all they convicted on. (PRAISE BE TO THE JURY). Seems like a BIG distinction to me.

the jury obviously didn't agree that blago was guilty on 23 out of 24 counts. and yes, the count they convicted him on was the same was what scooter did.

 

[loosecannon]

I want to remind all of you that when Fitzgerald ended the investigation arrested blago and filed charges he did so saying that he acted to "prevent a crime from taking place".

That crime would surely have involved the admin that was soon to be his boss.

Truth be told if Blago is guilty of many of these charges, esp those involving conspiracy and a certain senate seat, that means that by definition team Obama is a co party to those crimes.

I suspect that the DOJ is pleased that Blago didn't drag the WH into the courtroom and may want to avoid forcing him to do just that in a retrial in which he actually mounts a defense.

In your heart you all know know that Rahm and team Obama are as guilty as Blago.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

I'm wondering what he lied about which garnered the conviction.

That is what makes it so Scotterish. He lied about campaign donations, something all pols receive which is not illegal.
Watching the RW hypocrisy unfold will be very very funny.

What does this have to do with the Right Wing?

 

[Madeline]

I dunno, but I can name one Assistant US Attorney whose career is o-v-e-r at DOJ.

 

[goldcatt]

I dunno, but I can name one Assistant US Attorney whose career is o-v-e-r at DOJ.

I'm not so sure. I only heard it from a relative who lives there and got it on the local news, I'll have to go look for a source to verify, but supposedly during deliberations the foreman requested a copy of the jurors' oath and a clarification of whether the individual vote count would be public. Sounds to me like at least one holdout was out to nullify.

If that turns out to be the case, whoever did voir dire should be canned. But once seated an idiot with an agenda isn't the trial attorney's fault.

 

[Madeline]

AUSA's ain't garden variety trial lawyers, goldcatt. This was Big News all summer, probably the most talked-about trial in any district. I can't believe the prosecutor can come back from this debacle.

Here's a report on the lawyers' response to the verdict:

Attorneys react to Blagojevich verdict, gird for next battle - chicagotribune.com

I predict Patrick Fitzgerald (the AUSA) will be the new Marcia Clark.

But anyway...who thinks Blagojevich can retake the governor's office now? He was removed after the indictment. Does he get his office back?

Poor Illinois. poor Chicago. Poor Democrats.

 

[goldcatt]

Here's that source, interesting take on it:

Jurors in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's federal corruption trial asked for a copy of the solemn oath they promised to uphold, a possible signal their work may be nearing an end after 14 days of deliberations.

*snip*

"Someone is saying they don't want to vote. They don't want to sit in judgment of another person," Birkett said. "That's not uncommon. It takes courage to sign a guilty verdict and affect the rest of another person's life."

Or they have another agenda....

Either way, looks more like a jury problem than anything. Hope they retry the SOB and do a better job with voir dire.

ETA: Whoops! Almost forgot the link. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=401502

 

[goldcatt]

AUSA's ain't garden variety trial lawyers, goldcatt. This was Big News all summer, probably the most talked-about trial in any district. I can't believe the prosecutor can come back from this debacle.

Here's a report on the lawyers' response to the verdict:

Attorneys react to Blagojevich verdict, gird for next battle - chicagotribune.com

I predict Patrick Fitzgerald (the AUSA) will be the new Marcia Clark.

But anyway...who thinks Blagojevich can retake the governor's office now? He was removed after the indictment. Does he get his office back?

Poor Illinois. poor Chicago. Poor Democrats.

I doubt there's any chance he'll get his office back. And I hope to hell they retry him.

I'm not arguing with you on Patrick Fitzgerald, I almost forgot that's who tried this thing. He's got a history of screwing the pooch, doesn't he? I still think the real screwup was in jury selection though. They might have had a conviction worth getting.

At least they can retry...time, money and effort down the tubes, but that's something.

 

[Madeline]

I've never had a jury trial, goldcatt. Must be terribly unnerving to wonder if you got it right, and mebbe there was some nullification. But if you recall, that's what everyone thought happened in the OJ case, and it did not save Marcia Clark's rep.

I wish they had broadcast this trial, as it has been frustrating to try and follow the bouncing ball in the news. but from what I could glean, the prosecutor did not put on a tight, well-reasoned case. I mean, why did they put on testimony that Patty Blagopjevich swears? Who gives a fuck? Seemed to me they mainly "proved" that Blagojevich is a gutter-talking, horse trading Chicago pol...hardly illegal.

I think the fuck up can be traced to the indictment. Not enough thought given as to what evidence they actually had and exactly what crimes to charge. But hey, this is my uninformed Monday morning quarterbacking. I have to admit, I thought Blagojevich would get convicted until the jury stayed out so long.

 

[Article 15]

Blago for president in 2012; He may suck but he's mo better than anything your party can deliver!

For the lulz, of course.

 

[goldcatt]

I've never had a jury trial, goldcatt. Must be terribly unnerving to wonder if you got it right, and mebbe there was some nullification. But if you recall, that's what everyone thought happened in the OJ case, and it did not save Marcia Clark's rep.

I wish they had broadcast this trial, as it has been frustrating to try and follow the bouncing ball in the news. but from what I could glean, the prosecutor did not put on a tight, well-reasoned case. I mean, why did they put on testimony that Patty Blagopjevich swears? Who gives a fuck? Seemed to me they mainly "proved" that Blagojevich is a gutter-talking, horse trading Chicago pol...hardly illegal.

I think the fuck up can be traced to the indictment. Not enough thought given as to what evidence they actually had and exactly what crimes to charge. But hey, this is my uninformed Monday morning quarterbacking. I have to admit, I thought Blagojevich would get convicted until the jury stayed out so long.

I didn't do many jury trials either, Maddy. I was almost exclusively in appellate work. But it's pretty clear when they ask for a copy of the oath, you know somebody is refusing to vote and the foreman wants to appeal to their better nature so to speak. Why exactly, who knows?

I'll admit I haven't had time to follow the trial very closely this summer, although I did get updates from family in the state. Sounds from what I have seen like they might have jumped the gun on charging him, or else they had good evidence and didn't know how to present it.

Either way, you changed my mind. Get Fitzgerald out of there and retry it with somebody who knows how to put on a case. And doesn't read the BS blogs.

 

[jillian]

I like how 3 people testified in this trial and Obama did indeed talk to blago about the seat, more than once. Which is in Direct conflict with MR transparencies statements about it. Funny we are not hearing more about that.

Nothing even remotely approaching this actually happened, Charles. Please stop getting your facts from the blogosphere.

why should they tell the truth when they can obfuscate, misrepresent and make things up as they go along?

 

[Madeline]

Because it's annoying. When I read shit like that, my head explodes.

 

[jillian]

I've never had a jury trial, goldcatt. Must be terribly unnerving to wonder if you got it right, and mebbe there was some nullification. But if you recall, that's what everyone thought happened in the OJ case, and it did not save Marcia Clark's rep.

I wish they had broadcast this trial, as it has been frustrating to try and follow the bouncing ball in the news. but from what I could glean, the prosecutor did not put on a tight, well-reasoned case. I mean, why did they put on testimony that Patty Blagopjevich swears? Who gives a fuck? Seemed to me they mainly "proved" that Blagojevich is a gutter-talking, horse trading Chicago pol...hardly illegal.

I think the fuck up can be traced to the indictment. Not enough thought given as to what evidence they actually had and exactly what crimes to charge. But hey, this is my uninformed Monday morning quarterbacking. I have to admit, I thought Blagojevich would get convicted until the jury stayed out so long.

there wasn't any nullification in the oj tria, imo. you had a jury who really didn't want to believe that one of their heroes could do such a thing and the prosecution was so incompetent and the courtroom so badly run... and a racist cop running around with blood evidence for hours without logging it in.. just gave them the excuse they needed to find him not guilty. plus, they were pre-disposed to believe LA cops were a bunch of liars.

very different situation from this one. but this trial wasn't televisted, so i don't know what they saw or didn't see.

marcia clark and chris darden deserved to have their butts handed to them, btw.

 

[jillian]

Because it's annoying. When I read shit like that, my head explodes.

that's got to sting. lol.

 

[Article 15]

The Beiber appears to be a modified Blagojevich