Blagojevich update, February 16, 2012, Chicago attorney Len Goodman heading appeal, Rod Blagojevich assigned to Littleton, Colorado, Patti interview

“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“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

From the Chicago SunTimes February 15, 2012.
“Rod Blagojevich will be spending his time behind bars in a Littleton, Colorado facility as he had asked — something one of his lawyers said the family had hoped to keep private.

Carolyn Gurland, who had a hand in handling the ex-governor’s sentencing, said Wednesday that Blagojevich and his family were focused on his transition to prison.

“He and his family want some privacy during this time,” Gurland said. “The govenor’s focus is going to be that there is a smooth transition and hopes there’s some respect for his privacy.”

“Mr. Blagojevich, (the U.S. Probation Department) and the defense team were extraordinarily cautious that this information did not become public and we’re very disappointed that it did,” she said.”

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/10652447-418/blagojevich-to-serve-sentence-at-colorado-prison.html

From Chicago Business December 22, 2011.

“A Chicago attorney who has represented a Guantanamo detainee and former Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese is taking over the appeals case of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, sentenced this month to 14 years in prison for soliciting a bribe and other federal corruption charges.

Len Goodman, a Chicago criminal defense attorney, will lead the effort in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. He was assigned by U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who handed down the sentence.

Mr. Goodman, who has tried criminal cases in state and federal courts throughout the Midwest, said he is still getting up to speed on the case.

“I wasn’t at the trial and need to read all the transcripts,” said Mr. Goodman, who won a rare acquittal before a federal jury when he represented a Utah pharmaceuticals executive charged with six counts of fraud.

“The main issue at trial was — what was (Mr. Blagojevich’s) intent? This is a case about campaign contributions; he was not accused of stuffing his own pockets the way some other politicians do. The governor was part of a system in Illinois which required him to raise tens of millions of dollars to stay in office and which encouraged him to seek campaign contributions from persons who received business and benefits from the state. In that type of case, the defendant has to be given a full opportunity to present evidence of his intent, or what was in his head,” Mr. Goodman said in an email. “That is what I am going to be looking at. Did the jury hear both sides of the story? Did they get a full picture? Or did they hear mostly just the evidence that the government wanted them to hear?””

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20111222/BLOGS03/111229936/chicago-attorney-who-represented-cicero-mayor-taking-up-blagojevich-appeal

From ABC February 10, 2012.

“In an interview that was rambling, tearful and sometimes punctuated by sobbing, former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich on Thursday spoke in detail for the first time since her husband was sentenced to a lengthy federal prison term.

ABC7 News has learned that Mrs. Blagojevich taped an exclusive interview with Chicago-based talk show hostess Rosie O’Donnell.

During the one-on-one interview, the wife of the impeached and disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich downplayed the severity of her husband’s wrongdoing that resulted in jury convictions on 17 corruption-related counts. “He was found guilty of getting advice and having routine conversations with advisors and closest friends” she told O’Donnell “It wasn’t about anything else,” she said.

Accompanied on Thursday by the lawyer who unsuccessfully defended her husband, Mrs. Blagojevich said that she wanted to provide more details about the legal ordeal and that “someday when this is over we could have 3 hour conversation” but that “his lawyers have told me not to talk about it.”

Mrs. Blagojevich said that the “case isn’t over. We have faith in system that this wrong will be righted and truth will prevail.” The former governor’s legal team has filed an appeal of the conviction and sentence.

Mr. Blagojevich is scheduled to report to federal prison on March 15 to begin a sentence of 14 years. He has requested to serve time at a facility in Colorado.”

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8537643