Blagojevich resentencing August 9, 2016?, US Supreme Court decision to throw out bribery conviction of former Virginia governor unlikely to help, Judge Zagel had scheduled Rod Blagojevich resentencing for June 30

Blagojevich resentencing August 9, 2016?, US Supreme Court decision to throw out bribery conviction of former Virginia governor unlikely to help, Judge Zagel had scheduled Rod Blagojevich resentencing for June 30

Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“I believe I’m more pristine on Rezko than him.”…Rod Blagojevich

“Regardless of how this plays out, it benefits Obama. If there is no appeal or the appeal is denied, Blagojevich will be sequestered. If the appeal proceeds, it could drag out beyond impacting the 2012 election cycle. The intent is obvious.”…Citizen Wells, July 19, 2011

The resentencing of Rod Blagojevich had been scheduled by Judge Zagel for June 30, 2016.

A motion that appeared on Judge Zagel’s calendar yesterday for today has disappeared.

From Canmua June 28, 2016.

“Supreme Court ruling unlikely to affect Blagojevich resentencing”

“A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday to throw out the bribery conviction of a former Virginia governor will play little role in the ongoing legal odyssey of Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor’s lawyer said.

“It really doesn’t change anything,” said Blagojevich’s lawyer, Leonard Goodman. “I don’t think this will be a primary focus.”

Blagojevich has served more than four years in a federal prison in Colorado for misusing his powers as governor in an array of shakedown schemes, most famously for his alleged attempts to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after his 2008 election as president.

In March, the Supreme Court declined to hear Blagojevich’s appeal of a 14-year prison sentence. A federal appeals court last year dismissed several counts against the former governor and ordered he be resentenced, but the three-judge panel called the evidence against him “overwhelming” and made it clear he will likely remain locked up for years to come. Blagojevich is scheduled to be resentenced Aug. 9.

While the case of another former governor, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, offers tempting parallels, the high court’s ruling will not do much to shape the legal strategy in the Blagojevich proceedings, Goodman said.

The Supreme Court vacated the 2014 conviction on fraud and extortion charges against McDonnell, who accepted more than $165,000 in loans and gifts from a wealthy businessman. The high court’s opinion hinged on the definition of what should be considered an “official act” of a public official. The Supreme Court ruled that while McDonnell’s actions were “distasteful” and “tawdry,” the government overreached in its “boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.”

But the “official act” element does not apply in the Blagojevich case, Goodman said.

“Those legal issues are not really front and center at the resentencing,” Goodman said. “That’s really our main focus right now: trying to bring him home to his family.”

Still, Goodman said, “There’s some irony in the fact that a guy who did take loans and gifts of cars and watches, his case is overturned, and Blagojevich never did any of that.”

“There is some concern about the overreaching,” Goodman said.

Goodman said he had not spoken to Blagojevich about the McDonnell ruling.”

Read more:

http://canmua.net/virginia/supreme-court-ruling-unlikely-to-affect-blagojevich-resentencing-977353.html

From CNN JUne 27, 2016.

“Supreme Court vacates former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s conviction”