Blagojevich prosecutors oppose retrial, Deny allegations of bias, Blagojevich 158 page motion, Prosecution 133 page motion

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

“Will Obama be thrown under the bus”

From the Chicago Tribune August 23, 2011.

“Blagojevich prosecutors deny allegations of bias”

“Responding to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s motion to dismiss his June conviction on public corruption charges, federal prosecutors in a filing late Monday rejected  allegations of bias, saying trial decisions were focused on facts and evidence relevant to the charges.

Blagojevich filed a 158-page motion in late July, saying his case should be dismissed because of alleged widespread judicial and prosecutorial bias against him.

“In reality, there was no bias, manipulation, or unfairness on the part of the prosecution, judge or jury. Defendant was fairly convicted by a jury of his peers based on overwhelming evidence, and his post-trial motions therefore should be denied,” prosecutors said in their filing.

U.S. District Court Judge James Zagel, the judge at trial, will eventually rule on whether to dismiss the case. While that outcome would appear highly unlikely, the defense filing offered a glimpse of the likely issues that Blagojevich’s lawyers will target in an eventual appeal with a federal appellate court.

A federal jury convicted Blagojevich in June on 17 of 20 wire fraud, bribery, attempted extortion and conspiracy counts, including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat left open by Barack Obama’s election to president in 2008.

The former governor was also convicted at his first trial last summer on a single count of lying to the FBI. The jury, however, deadlocked on all the other counts, setting the stage for the retrial. Blagojevich is set to be sentenced Oct. 6.

The government, in the 133-page motion, dealt with some of the more headline-grabbing allegations made by the defense, including the idea that there were missing phone calls amid the numerous wiretaps the government presented as evidence during the trial.

One of those calls involving former Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris, the government said, was simply not recorded and therefore not available.

“The likely reasons why the call was not intercepted are that Harris took the call on a non-wiretapped phone line, or that the call took place during a time his phone line was not being monitored,” the motion reads. “As the records provided to the defense make clear, there was no break in the wiretaps and no deletion of recordings that would account for this call not being recorded,” the government said of one of the calls.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-blagojevich-prosecutors-deny-allegations-of-bias-20110823,0,2667746.story