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5 of the 18 Blagojevich convictions overturned on appeal

An appeals court has overturned five of the corruption convictions of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

An appeals court has overturned five of the corruption convictions of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Blagojevich is currently serving 14 years in prison in Denver, after he was convicted in federal court on 18 counts. Eleven of those charges were filed in connection with allegations that Blagojevich wanted to trade President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for money or a cabinet appointment for himself.

His attorneys filed an appeal in July 2013, saying Blagojevich was simply conducting legal “political horse-trading,” and on some counts the appeals court agreed. The appeal claimed the trial judge misled the jury by not explaining that political deal-making can be legal, and by not explaining the difference between campaign contributions and bribes.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated counts 5, 6, 21, 22 and 23 in its ruling issued July 21, 2015. That is two counts of wire fraud, one count of extortion conspiracy, one count of attempted extortion and one count of bribery conspiracy which were vacated.

The appeals court also called the evidence against Blagojevich “overwhelming,” saying he was still not entitled to be released from prison at this time.

If prosecutors don’t fight the appellate court ruling, the opinion said, the district judge should “proceed directly to resentencing.”

Read it here - Blagojevich appeal and ruling

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