Blagojevich’s trial reaches dead end
The case of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich seems to have reached a dead end.
After the first 11 days of deliberations, the jurors asked Judge James Zagel to advise them what to do if they cannot reach a unanimous verdict on all counts. Blagojevich has been accused of trying to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat, which remained free after he won the president elections in 2008. Rod Blagojevich and his brother, Robert Blagojevich, have also been charged with trying to extort the campaign contributions.The jury, formed from six men and six women tried to reach a decision, but they could not, and that means that Blagojevich is likely to receive a mixed verdict. This does not mean that Blagojevich escaped conviction, because there are a total of 24 accusations against him, and the jury is not allowed to say what the one they got stuck on is. During the trial that lasted seven weeks Blagojevich has been very friendly and chatty to the crowds outside the court house, winning their trust and sympathy, but the judges heard the true story inside the court, listening to wire tapped conversations proving that Rod is a lot more than he seems to be.
The prosecutors accused him of trying to sell political favors, including Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat and the tapped conversations disclosed the dirty backroom politics happening in Blagojevich’s office right after Obama got elected for president. They could hear them on the tape referring to a high powered job as “gold” and asking top aide John Harris about exchanging the Senate seat for a Cabinet post in the Obama administration. What’s more, they could hear Blagojevich suggesting that Obama knew about the deal, something the president repeatedly has denied. He suggested that he might even like a Health and Human Services Cabinet position or a United Nations ambassador in Germany, England, France or Canada. He also talked about filling Obama’s vacant Senate seat, suggesting at some point Oprah Winfrey as a replacement and even himself.
Thomas Balanoff, an official with the Service Employees International Union, made things clear regarding the president’s implication in this political scandal. He said that the night before winning the elections, the future president called him and left the following message: “Tom, this is Barack. Give me a call”. When talking on the phone Obama told Balanoff that he thought there were a few very good candidates for the remaining Senate vacant seat, but that he will not support anyone in particular for this job. The only name that he mentioned was the one of his friend, Valerie Jarrett, whom he said was interested in the job, but he said that he would rather have her working with him at the White House, although he thought her to be qualified for the Senate job. Balanoff’s testimony meant signed the sentence for Blagojevich and says that he talked to the former governor on the phone regarding the Senate seat, and that he suggested himself as a candidate for the Cabinet post. After being denied he got angry, and the jury could hear him swearing on the tapes and making plans to extort campaign cash from the head of a children’s hospital. Sam Adam Sr. and Sam Adam Jr., the ex governor’s defenders claim that their client’s only crime is talking too much and accused him of “stupidity” and of being influenced by other people.
