M. Alex Johnson
NBC News
usnews.nbcnews.com
November 15, 2013
CHICAGO/ENGLEWOOD, CO. – The case of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be back in court next month after a federal appeals court agreed Friday to hear arguments over whether to toss out his 2011 corruption conviction.
In a brief ruling filed Friday in 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Chicago, the court set Dec. 13 for oral arguments on Blagojevich’s contention that it should overturn his 14-year sentence to a federal penitentiary in Englewood, Colo.
Blago & Barry-O
The mop-haired former politician has argued that he was simply engaging in standard political horse-trading when he was recorded wheeling and dealing for money and possibly a Cabinet position in return for appointing Valerie Jarrett to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate in 2008.
“It’s a f—ing valuable thing,” he was heard saying in a recording of a phone call played in court. “You just don’t give it away for nothing.”
Valerie Jarrett
“If I don’t get what I want … I’ll just take the Senate seat myself,” he was recorded saying.
Neither Jarrett — a senior adviser in the Obama White House — nor Obama have been accused of wrongdoing.
Burris and Patrick Starfish
Blagojevich eventually ended up appointing Roland Burris. After a legal battle, the appointment was upheld, and Burris served a little less than two years in the Senate. Blagojevich was impeached and later prosecuted.
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