Breaking News, or Same Old Story? Another ex-Illinois governor was appealing a conviction at the Dirksen Federal Building. What constitutional arguments are Blago's attorneys going to make to try to get the three-judge panel to reverse his conviction?
Blagojevich lawyers to ask for retrial, reduced sentence: The ex-governor's attorneys will ask an appeals court to overturn Blagojevich's corruption convictions, and grant him a whole new trial.
10 comments:
This case is already closed. While Blago's lawyers are going to try to argue that he didn't receive a fair trial and due process of law, the evidence against him is staggering. There are audio recordings of him, obtained through wiretapping, that undeniably prove his guiltiness. Blago's appeal is not a news worthy story due to its extreme unlikeliness, but is receiving media attention because of his notoriety. Well, maybe if he spices his appeal up with some Latin phrases he'll have a shot.
It might not be so open and shut. During oral argument the judges questioned the government's lawyers about whether what was captured on tape was not just political horse trading. That is, politicians trade votes on different matters all the time. Someone gives a campaign contribution to a candidate because the candidate will take certain actions. All of that seems legitimate. One judge, Judge Easterbrook, said that he couldn't see the difference between what Blago did and what President Eisenhower did with Earl Warren.
Blago also argued that he was denied due process of law under the constitution because he was not allowed to introduce evidence that he said showed his actions were politics as usual and not bribery.
All that said, I agree that the court is probably going to uphold his conviction. First of all, as the newspapers say, it is hard to know what judges think from the questions they ask. The judges could be playing devil's advocate. Second, the Senate seat issue is just one of the many crimes of which he was convicted. So even if he wins on the Senate seat issue, all he would get is a re-sentencing and who knows how many years, if any, that will carve off his prison term.
I agree that his conviction will most likely be upheld. There is so much evidence against him that disproving enough of it to appeal his sentence is not realistic. I do think there is some value in addressing the fact he was denied due process, but I don't think this will be enough to reduce his sentence.
I dont think he'll win this case. The odds are totally against him; there's too much evidence stacked up against him to try and overturn the ruling. I read in an article that that for the year 2012, judges have only reversed 15% of appeals. He's facing an up-hill battle.
Blago deserves his first sentence-- there is no reason this case should be reversed and remanded. Blago's lawyers are attempting to say that the deals he made were political trades, not bribes...False. It is only horse trading if no money is exchanged. They are also claiming there was exculpatory evidence, the fifth amendment was violated because only one juror sat on the second trial. As a Youth and Government prosecuting attorney, I would be happy to argue these issues! Blago's case should be affirmed.
While in youth and gov we stick to criminal cases, the appeal process for both civil and criminal cases are the same. The lawyers try to argue their client received unfair trial based on some constitutional grounds. In blago's case, the odds of him winning the appeal are completely hopeless. His lawyers are attempting to say he was simply trading instead of bribing, which is completely ridiculous seeing as the definition of a bribe is "persuade (someone) to act in one's favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement" and clearly there was money involved. So that issue will be thrown out right away. They are also going to argue about exculpatory evidence; however because there is so much other evidence that proved his was guilty (audio tapes) the evidence would not have changed the outcome of the trial and therefore was harmless error. As a defense attorney I would never take this case; I can't even imagine trying to find rule of law in order to argue this.
Let me point out the video after the Blago story was Penguins dressed up in Santa outfits.
I am upset that 14 is the harshest sentence ever given for Political Corruption. Why are we buying into the Untouchable aura around politicians? They are people too and they deserve to be punished for making mistakes. I don't care if he goes away for the rest of his life. I don't care if they take all his stuff and he has to live in a shelter to try and pay back the money he stole from the State of Illinois. I don't care. I am done with him. I am done with corruption and I am mostly just done with horrible people thinking they can do whatever they want because they were able to fool the swayable masses into voting for them. I'm done. He was tried and convicted. End of story.
Honestly the odds of Blago winning the appeal are utterly hopeless. The new argument from his lawyers about how he was simply trading instead of bribing is ridiculous. It's actually pretty funny how they have created this argument and this whole thing is so beyond dead. There is already plenty of proof that proves that he was guilty. Why do we keep trying to revive a dead case? He was tried and convicted. This case is closed.
After many years of trials and appeals we have come to a conclusion that Blago is guilty. We have plausible witnesses, and many pieces of evidence. He had a proper trial and a good judge. What more can he get before he accepts his judgement. This trial is done.
The Chicago public is done with the damage that this has caused. It honestly gives Illinois a bad name. Can we also stop publicizing this as well? I feel like the only thing Blago wants is a sympathetic public. He doesn't even have that.
I think that Blago's last ditch effort to get out of his punishment is pathetic. He was corrupt, he committed crimes, and now he needs to serve the time. Also I don't think that there is anyway that the decision will be overturned. The best thing that Blago can do now is just get out of the public spotlight and serve his time. And if he is trying to get sympathy from the public, then he doesn't stand a chance.
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