By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com It’s almost Blago time again. The Chicago Tribune reports that U.S. District Judge James Zagel of Chicago set sentencing for the ever-chatty, ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Dec. 6. Blago almost skated in his first public corruption trial when the jury convicted on only 1 of 24 counts. It deadlocked on the…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Oct. 6 won’t be a pretty day. That’s the day U.S. District Judge James Zagel of Chicago has set for sentencing for the ever-chatty ex-Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to court records. In his retrial, Blago was convicted of 17 or 20 counts. He alos faces sentencing for the one count…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The pretrial hearing was like a “weigh in” before the big boxing match, where both sides snipe at one another. A federal prosecutor on Monday called the very chatty ex-Ill. Gov Rod Blagojevich a ‘liar’ at a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court in Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune. And…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Imagine taxpayers spending millions of dollars collectively trying an Illinois governor, and in the end, the case all but collapses. The jurors only convict on one of 24 counts . They end up deadlocked on the rest. Imagine that. Yes,it’s not too hard, considering it happened in the first trial of…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Is a federal judge going too far by restraining the media or just being considerate? The Chicago Tribune reports that U.S. District Judge James Zagel in Chicago said Thursday he may have the U.S. Marshals Service offer no-trespassing signs to jurors to put up at their homes following the verdict in…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The sequel to Rod Blagojevich’s first public corruption trial could be coming to a federal court room in downtown Chicago as early as January, the Chicago Tribune reported. The Trib reported that in a private meeting last week between U.S. District Judge James Zagel and lawyers, the judge said he was…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Can you say Day 11? Well, Wednesday marks the 11th day jurors will deliberate in the federal public corruption case against the over-chatty ex-Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich in downtown Chicago. The Associated Press reports that U.S. District Judge James Zagel told attorneys on Tuesday that he’s heard nothing from the jurors…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Closing arguments in the public corruption trial of Ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich were supposed to finish up on Monday, but those plans were derailed when Blago’s attorney got into a big tiff with the judge, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The judge threatened to hold Blago’s attorney Sam Adam Jr in contempt…
