The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
August 18, 2010

Blagojevich Convicted on One Count in Corruption Trial
------------------------------------------------------



A federal jury has found former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich guilty
on one count of lying to federal agents, but has deadlocked on the more
serious remaining twenty-three counts in his corruption trial. On
Tuesday, the judge in the case said he would declare a mistrial. US
Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald vowed to refile the case.

Patrick Fitzgerald: "As you know, a jury convicted former Governor Rod
Blagojevich of lying to the FBI. As you also know, the jury deadlocked
on the bulk of the other charges. They could not agree that we had
proven or not proven those counts, and as you know, we intend to retry
those charges in the near future."

Blagojevich was impeached last year following his indictment on bribery
and wire fraud charges. The allegations against him include trying to
sell President Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. Shortly
after the verdict was read, Blagojevich called the trial’s outcome a
vindication.

Rod Blagojevich: "Except for one nebulous charge from five years ago, a
conversation that I had with the FBI where the FBI, and I agreed to that
interview, refused to allow me to have a court reporter in the room. I
want the people of Illinois to know I did not lie to the FBI. I’ve told
the truth from the very beginning. This is a persecution."



.