Feds Drop Case Against Blagojevich’s Brother
Developing: Federal prosecutors have dropped corruption charges against Robert Blagojevich, who ran the fund-raising campaign for his brother, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, for four months in 2008.
The Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Associated Press have the story.
A federal jury last week deadlocked on all four counts against Robert Blagojevich, who was accused of plotting with his brother to sell the Senate seat once held by Barack Obama. Prosecutors said they opted to drop the charges because Robert Blagojevich played a lesser role in the alleged schemes and it was “in the interests of justice,” according to the Tribune report.
Lawyer Michael Ettinger informed his client Robert Blagojevich of the news by telephone, the Sun-Times says. His client’s reaction: “He screamed: ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’” Ettinger said. “His wife was hysterical.”
Prosecutors indicated they plan to retry Rod Blagojevich, who was found guilty of just one count of lying to the FBI. The jury deadlocked on 23 other counts.
