Posted on 08/17/2010 4:55:56 PM PDT by ex-Texan
CHICAGO — U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says the government is getting ready for a retrial against ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-uh-vich).
Fitzgerald spoke to reporters on Tuesday after a jury found Blagojevich guilty of one count of lying to federal agents. The judge declared a mistrial in the other 23 counts against him.
Fitzgerald thanked the jury for their service and said he didn't have any other comment.
Prosecutors had accused Blagojevich of trying to sell or trade President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat among other allegations. Blagojevich had maintained that he did no wrongdoing.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. * * *
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Double jeapardy says you can’t be tried twice for the same crime. So if Blago was acquited (all 12 jurors voted “not guilty”) then Fitzgerald could not try him again. But the juries deadlocked, so the vote was somewhere in the middle, with some voting to convict, some voting not guilty.
Still, Fitzgerald was talking big when these indictments came down, how Lincoln would roll over in his grave, etc. This is a tremendous slap in the face to him, because I heard Blago’s defense lawyers a few times and they didn’t seem like they were very polished. But this is the same Fitzgerald who knew after about a week into the Valerie Plame investigation that Richard Armitage was the source of the information that “leaked” Valerie Plame’s status to Bob Novak, but he continued on and on until he got Scooter Libby on an unrelated charge.
Blago would take the five years, serve about two thirds of it, and write a tell all book which would make millions.
A term of his impeachment and removal was permanent ineligibility for office in Illinois. So no more running for him.
so Fitzy is blabbing he’s going to retry. Will see....
Right in time for the election?
Fitzgerald is a useless piece of refuse, as is Blago.
It’s a pity that they can’t BOTH lose.
The world would be a better place without the pair of them.
mistrial means the court made no finding of guilt/innocence.
if the charges were no dismissed with prejudice, I believe
that the prosecutor has another bite of the apple on those
charges note ajuidicated.
When you do it in legislation it somehow doesn't count. IOW, if you pass my legislation for me passing your legislation and it is all taxpayer money going to Congress approved projects; it doesn't count as a bribe.
Compare that (unseemly as it is) to Blago...
“So this F-ing plum falls in my F-ing lap, and I'm supposed to F-ing give it away? No F-ing way!”
-on his duty to fill the Senate seat for the people of Illinois.
I’m not defending Blagojevich, but I do believe that at the time Patrick Fitzgerald publicly announced the indictment that he, Fitzgerald, spoke inappropriately regarding the facts in the case. The comment that I recall most vividly was the “Lincoln would roll over in his grave”.
Give it up dude....you lost and lost badly....after spending a whole bunch of my taxpayer dollars....let it go.
Double jeapardy says you can’t be tried twice for the same crime. So if Blago was acquited (all 12 jurors voted “not guilty”) then Fitzgerald could not try him again. But the juries deadlocked, so the vote was somewhere in the middle, with some voting to convict, some voting not guilty.
Still, Fitzgerald was talking big when these indictments came down, how Lincoln would roll over in his grave, etc. This is a tremendous slap in the face to him, because I heard Blago’s defense lawyers a few times and they didn’t seem like they were very polished. But this is the same Fitzgerald who knew after about a week into the Valerie Plame investigation that Richard Armitage was the source of the information that “leaked” Valerie Plame’s status to Bob Novak, but he continued on and on until he got Scooter Libby on an unrelated charge.
Shouldn’t there be another prosecutor to retry the case since Patrick Fits Gerald blew it once already?
Maybe a new judge who will actually allow germane evidence of 0bama’s involvement in Blago corruption?
I’m delighted with the verdict. As much as Blago is a blowhard, he got no money for all his blathering, he sold no seat, he was a typical Chicago politico. Meanwhile, Obama and Rom Emanuel were busy trying to do exactly what Blago was alledged to have done, wheel and deal and offer jobs to bribe others to do as they wished. Witness Sestak in PA (I think it’s PA) and Romanov in CO, both of whom were bribed with job offers to get out of their primaries in their respective states, because Obama and his henchman wanted their primary opponents to win, Bennett in CO vs. Romanov, and Arlen Specter against Sestak. So, I would only want Blago in jail if Obama and Rom Emanuel were locked up in the cells right next to him.
Meanwhile, Blago was a very clever boy. He had two sharp lawyers, Sam Adams Sr. who is white, and his son, Sam Adams Jr. who, like Obama is mixed race, half black, half white. There were three black jurors and one Asian juror, the rest were white. I’ll lay you three to one odds that the minority jurors believed Sam Adams Jr., the black defense attorney, over the white prosecutor Fitzgerald.
Also, the jury split 5 for Blago, 7 against. That’s not just one lone juror holding out. That’s almost an even split on the jury for and against. The prosecution is going to have a tough road to hoe in the next trial that they have said they will do, now that this one ended up as a mistrial. I might add that this next trial will be starting over again probably in late September or early October, right before the fall mid-term elections. The Democrats will be cryig in their soup as there is nothing like a good old Dem corruption trial taking place right before an election. Hope our Pubs use this re-trial to their advantage politically, in their Ads.
Well, even though Blago is a bit of a slimeball, I still find him amusing and entertaining, he has that kind of personality, and I can’t stand Fitzgerald because of what he did to Scooter Libby, so I’m a happy camper tonite, and now I am going to go treat myself to something tasty for dinner in celebration of the outcome of the verdict. Blago will end up in the klink for maybe a year or two at most, which is good, as he has two young girls at home. Blago should not have been tried for being a loudmouth, he should have been tried for actions and deeds he did, which he didn’t. Fitzgerald set Blago up just like he did Scooter Libby, and Fitz got the same outcome again, one alleged charge of perjury that was basically trumped up. I hate overzealous prosecutors like Fitz, and it gives me great pleasure that he has got his comeuppance. So now Fitzgerald will waste another 20-30 million dollars on a re-trial, ... why?
P.S. this is happening on my home turf, I live in a suburb of Chicago, so I know the politics of this State pretty well as I have lived in IL for most of my life.
Well maybe actually putting the witnesses on the stand might help, like REZKO and RAM and OBAMA.
Those 3 are neck deep in the Blago stench but the prosecutors refused to call them.
P.S., a little tidbit I found interesting about the jury pool. They just gave out the names of the jurors for the first time (during the trial the names were not given out), and the towns they came from. This jury was primarily a suburbs jury, not a city of Chicago jury. If I heard right, only one or two actually lived in the City, the rest were all from the burbs. And they were from the north suburbs, the south and the western suburbs. I’ll have to think about this and how it factored in to the verdict.
Well sure...The US Attorney is getting his fat tax paid government salary regardless, along with his bloated tax paid lottery style government retirement pension..
In the real world, he'd be fired for screwing up the job.
The attorney will spend the rest of his career trying this other corrupt government AH, and then regardless of the verdict he'll retire to some tropical island...
It's a lose lose for all the tax payers.
It seems to me that it is more difficult than you would think to not somehow end up getting accused of telling lies as a result of being interviewed by the Feds. It is the catch-22 Feds use to get their man when the original case is weak to begin with.
Preface every remembrance or statement with...”not sure, but to the best of my recollection.”
Show some conviction and pay for retrial out of your own pocket you self promoting, lack of conviction SOB.
“Well, even though Blago is a bit of a slimeball...”
####
Well, you must live in perennially corrupt Chicago if you find BigBoy just a “bit” of a slimeball.
Even among the human detritus that make up much our elected representatives, he is arrogant, corrupt smegma on a level with Pete Stark and John Murtha.
What, do you find his weird bouffant attractive or something?
H! had it down pat: "I don't recall".
Pete and repete until clear....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.