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Former Illinois Governor Blagojevich Convicted in Corruption Trial

   VOA News 17 August 2010
   Former  Illinois  Gov.  Rod  Blagojevich  arrives at the Federal Court
   building  in  Chicago,  as  the  jury  continues  to deliberate in his
   federal corruption trial, 17 Aug. 2010

Photo: AP

   Former  Illinois  Gov.  Rod  Blagojevich  arrives at the Federal Court
   building  in  Chicago,  as  the  jury  continues  to deliberate in his
   federal corruption trial, 17 Aug. 2010

   Jurors  in  the  midwestern  city  of  Chicago  have  convicted former
   Illinois  Governor  Rod  Blagojevich  of  making  false  statements to
   federal  agents in the corruption case against him that grew out of an
   alleged  attempt  to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama
   after he became president.
   After  two  weeks  of  deliberations,  the  jury Tuesday convicted the
   former governor, who faced 24 counts including fraud, racketeering and
   attempted  extortion.   Those allegations included an attempt to sell
   Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat.
   Jurors  were not able to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the other
   counts against Blagojevich.  Reports quote prosecutors as saying they
   intend to retry the case "as quickly as possible."
   Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008.  The Illinois Senate later
   convicted  him  of  abuse  of  power  and voted to remove him from his
   position as governor.
   Mr.  Obama  resigned  from the Senate seat shortly after being elected
   president.   He  has  said  he had no contact with Blagojevich or his
   office regarding his replacement.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP.

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