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Blagojevich's 18 convictions included allegations of trying to
leverage his power to appoint someone to President Barack Obama's
vacated Senate seat to raise campaign cash or land a high-paying
job.
Judge James Zagel gave Blagojevich some credit for taking
responsibility for his actions -- which the former governor did in an
address to the court earlier in the day -- but said that didn't
mitigate his crimes.
Zagel also said Blagojevich did some good things for people as
governor, but was more concerned about using his powers for himself.
"When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is
torn and disfigured and not easily repaired," Zagel said.
As the judge announced the sentence, Blagojevich hunched forward and
his face appeared frozen. Minutes later, his wife, Patti
Blagojevich, stood up and fell into her husband's arms. He pulled
back to brush tears off her cheek and then rubbed her shoulders.
The twice-elected Democrat is now the second former Illinois
governor in a row to be sentenced to prison, and the fourth Illinois
governor in the last four decades. His Republican predecessor,
George Ryan, currently is serving a sentence of 6 1/2 years, also
for corruption.
Blagojevich, in a last plea for mercy, tried something he never had
before: an apology. After years of insisting he was innocent, he
told the judge he'd made "terrible mistakes" and acknowledged that
he broke the law. "I'm here convicted of crimes ... ," Blagojevich
said, "and I am accepting of it, I acknowledge it and I of course am
unbelievably sorry for it."
But Zagel gave him little leeway, telling him that he gave him
credit for taking responsibility but that his apology didn't
mitigate his crimes. "Whatever good things you did for people as
governor, and you did some, I am more concerned with the occasions
when you wanted to use your powers ... to do things that were only
good for yourself," he said.
Zagel said he did not believe Blagojevich's contention, as his
lawyers wrote in briefings, that his comments about the corruption
schemes were simply "musings."
But Zagel said the jury concluded and he agreed that Blagojevich was
engaged in actual schemes, and the undeniable leader of those
schemes. "The governor was not marched along this criminal path by
his staff," Zagel said. "He marched them."
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 15 to 20 years, which
Blagojevich's attorneys said was too harsh. The defense also
presented heartfelt appeals from Blagojevich's family, including
letters from his wife and one of his two daughters that pleaded for
mercy.
But the judge made it clear early in the hearing that he believed
that Blagojevich had lied on the witness stand when he tried to
explain his scheming for the Senate seat, and he did not believe
defense suggestions that the former governor was duped by his
advisers.
The 54-year-old was not taken immediately into custody. In
white-collar cases, convicted felons are usually given at least a
few weeks to report to prison while federal authorities select a
suitable facility.
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Blagojevich is expected to appeal his conviction, but it is unlikely
to affect when he reports to prison. Going into the sentencing, many
legal experts said the governor -- who became a national punch line
while doing several reality TV appearances while his legal case
unfolded -- was likely to get around 10 years.
A former Blagojevich fundraiser, Tony Rezko, recently was sentenced
to 10 1/2 years, minus time served. Prosecutors have said
Blagojevich misused the power of his office "from the very moment he
became governor."
He was initially elected in 2002 on a platform of cleaning up
Illinois politics in the midst of federal investigations that led to
the prosecution and conviction of Ryan. Defense attorneys have said
Blagojevich has already paid a price in public ridicule and
financial ruin, and proposed a term of just a few years.
Blagojevich's sentencing came just days before his 55th birthday on
Saturday, and nearly three years to the day of his arrest at dawn on
Dec. 9, 2008, when the startled governor asked one federal agent,
"Is this a joke?"
In a state where corruption has been commonplace, images of
Blagojevich being led away in handcuffs still came as a shock. It
took two trials for prosecutors to snare Blagojevich on sweeping
corruption charges.
His first ended deadlocked with jurors agreeing on just one of 24
counts -- that Blagojevich lied to the FBI. Jurors at his retrial
convicted him on 17 of 20 counts, including bribery and attempted
extortion. FBI wiretap evidence proved decisive. In the most
notorious recording, Blagojevich is heard crowing that his chance to
name someone to Obama's seat was "-- golden" and he wouldn't let it
go "for -- nothing."
Blagojevich clearly dreaded the idea of prison time. Asked in an
interview before his retrial about whether he dwelled on that
prospect, he answered: "No. I don't let myself go there."
In the same interview, Blagojevich also explained that the family
dog Skittles was bought after his arrest to help his school-age
daughters, Amy and Annie, cope with the stress of his legal
troubles. He said he joked with them that, "If the worst happens
[and I go to prison], you can get another dog and call him 'Daddy.'"
While Blagojevich will likely end up at a minimal security prison,
he'll be largely cut off from the outside world. Visits by family
are strictly limited, Blagojevich will have to share a cell with
other inmates and he must work an eight-hour-a-day menial job --
possibly scrubbing toilets or mopping floors -- at just 12 cents an
hour.
Most of the prisons where Blagojevich could end up are outside
Illinois. One is in Terre Haute, Ind., where Ryan is serving his own
sentence.
[Associated
Press]
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