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      CHICAGO (AP) — A jury convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod
Blagojevich on Monday of nearly all the corruption charges against
him, including that he tried to sell or trade President Barack
Obama's old Senate seat.


      Blagojevich had faced 20 charges, including the Senate seat
allegation and that he schemed to shake down executives for
campaign donations. He was convicted on all charges regarding the
Senate seat.


      Jurors delivered their verdicts Monday after deliberating nine
days.


      Blagojevich had testified for seven days, denying wrongdoing.
Prosecutors said he lied and the proof was on FBI wiretaps. Those
included a widely parodied clip in which Blagojevich calls the
Senate opportunity "f------ golden."


      Jurors in his first trial deadlocked on all but one charge,
convicting Blagojevich of lying to the FBI. Blagojevich already
faces up to five years for the lying conviction.


      Blagojevich, 54, had arrived at the courthouse accompanied by
his wife, Patti, and walked past the crowds that lined the street
outside the building.
      Prosecutors, defense attorneys and dozens of reporters filed
into the courtroom Monday after the court announced it had received
word of a note from jurors.


      "The jury has come to a decision on 18 of the 20 counts,"
Zagel said, clutching the note and reading it aloud. Jurors added
they were deadlocked on two counts and "were confident" they
couldn't agree on those charges "even with further
deliberations."


      Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008, after the FBI had
wiretapped hundreds of his telephone calls at work and home. The
Illinois Legislature impeached him a month later.


      Both trials hinged on whether the former governor's bold
ramblings to aides and others on the telephone was just talk, as he
insisted, or part of "a political crime spree," in the words of
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.


      Before a national audience, the Blagojevich saga exacerbated
Illinois' reputation for graft. The convictions mean Blagojevich is
the second Illinois governor in a row facing a prison sentence for
corruption. His predecessor, former Gov. George Ryan, is serving a
6½ year sentence.


      The case also became a media spectacle, as the indicted governor
and his wife appeared on TV reality shows, and as the loquacious
Blagojevich made theatrical appearances daily outside the
courthouse during the first trial to profess his innocence and hug
his remaining fans.


      In a case full of high-level name dropping, defense attorneys in
the retrial pulled into court Chicago's new Mayor Rahm Emanuel and
U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Emanuel's appearance on the witness
stand, the most anticipated by a Chicago mayor in a federal
courtroom in decades, was over in just five minutes. Jackson was
done in about half an hour.


      Overall, though, the retrial had far less of the circus-like
atmosphere that accompanied the initial trial. Blagojevich himself
also was more subdued this time.


      Other major differences were in the prosecution's dramatically
streamlined case, and the fact that the defense put on a case after
not doing so the first time around.


      Prosecutors dropped racketeering counts against the ex-governor
and dismissed all charges against his then co-defendant brother,
Robert Blagojevich. They presented just three weeks of evidence -
half the time taken at the first trial. They called fewer
witnesses, asked fewer questions and played shorter excerpts of FBI
wiretaps that underpin most of the charges.


      There was also a new variable at the retrial: The testimony from
Blagojevich himself. At the first trial, the defense rested without
calling any witnesses and Blagojevich didn't testify despite vowing
that he would.


      Retrial jurors saw a deferential Blagojevich look them in the
eyes and deny every allegation, telling them his talk on the
recordings was mere brainstorming.

Gallery

Crime, Law and Justice

Politics and Government News

A jury has convicted Rod Blagojevich of trying to
sell or trade President Barack Obama's old Senate seat and other
corruption charges.

Jury convicts ex-Ill. Gov. Blagojevich at retrial

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