Blagojevich stands trial; faces 415 years in federal prison if convicted

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Heading into a federal courthouse in Chicago last week, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Chicago) told reporters, "You get to witness history."

Blagojevich, 53, is accused of attempting to sell a U.S. Senate seat, vacated by the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. Blagojevich subsequently appointed Roland Burris, a former Democrat state officeholder, to fill the vacancy after the governor was arrested in connection with trying to use his power as governor to obtain personal financial rewards. He has been charged with 24 felony counts.

Blagojevich insinuates that Obama and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel attempted to assert influence on his decision and has asked Judge James Zagel to call them as witnesses. Zagel has indicated that he won't call either of them, but he has the prerogative to do so.

Robert Blagojevich, 54, a resident of Tennessee and the former governor's brother is a co-defendant on the charge of trying to sell the senate seat. He has pled not guilty to that charge and to pressuring racetrack owner John Johnson for a big campaign contribution.

Rod Blagojevich said he is happy that the trial is getting underway and that the public will at last hear "all the things I've been dying to tell you for the last year and a half."

If he is convicted, the former Democrat elected twice to the governor's mansion could be residing in a federal prison. He could receive 415 years imprisonment and a total of $6 million in fines. Apparently, his defense will be built on the idea he was unaware of corruption going on in his office and that those testifying otherwise are doing so to lessen the punishment for their own misdeeds.

The key players other than the no-nonsense Zagel and the seemingly always nonsensical Blagojevich are the attorneys.

Carrie E. Hamilton is the lead attorney for the prosecution. She successfully convicted Tony Rezko, one of Blagojevich's top fundraisers. She has a quiet style, succinctly presenting the facts.

Hamilton will be opposed by the lead attorney for Blagojevich, flamboyant Sam Adam, Jr. Adam, known for his theatrics and oratorical skills defended Chicago performer R. Kelly on child pornography charges and won an acquittal.

As the circus-like trial enters its second week, the national news media eagerly awaits each new development. Here's what has happened so far:

Just prior to opening statements in the federal corruption trial, Blagojevich's lawyers asked Zagel to throw out the charges saying they violated Blagojevich's freedom of speech. The motion was overturned.

A co-defendant, Blagojevich's brother Robert Blagojevich, 54, has pled not guilty to taking part in the attempt to sell the senate seat and to plotting to squeeze a race track owner for a huge contribution to the governor's campaign fund for a license.

Blagojevich's former chief of staff Alonzo Monk testified that he and Blagojevich met with Rezko and Christopher Kelly and calculated a number of plans to make money. Each plan, he said would raise at least $100,000.

Kelly committed suicide last September a few days before he was to report to a federal prison convicted of tax fraud.

One of those plans was the selling in one day of $10 billion in state pension bonds to the investment firm Bear Sterns, which has since gone out of business. The one-day sell off benefitted the investment business. According to Monk, a Bear Sterns lobbyist in Springfield, Robert Kjellander promised to pay Rezko $500,000 for influencing Blagojevich's decision. Kjellander, who made a huge profit from the transaction, subsequently called the payment to Rezko a loan.

Monk, who has pleaded guilty to federal charges and is cooperating with the prosecution in hope of receiving a lighter sentence said, Kelly, a roofing contractor and Rezko raised millions for Blagojevich's campaign fund and were rewarded with jobs and contracts for their friends.

Monk told the jurors that Blagojevich wanted to run for president and Kelly and Rezko were in support of the idea. He said Blagojevich was consumed by raising campaign funds and that Kelly and Rezko raised millions on his behalf.

Rezko also raised campaign funds for another Chicago politician who did run for president-Barack Obama.

During his second day on the stand, Monk said that in 2008, state Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) had agreed to block an ethics bill in the senate for Blagojevich in return for the governor's appointment of Jones to fill the vacant seat in the U.S. Senate, should Sen. Obama win the presidential election.

The bill had passed in the general assembly and been vetoed by Blagojevich. Jones, as senate president, had allegedly agreed to not call for a vote to override the governor's veto. However, Jones did call for a vote and the veto was overturned and the bill became law effective in January 2009.

Blagojevich told Monk that Jones had gone back on their deal. He also increased his fundraising to beat the January, 2009 deadline, according to the prosecution.

The ethics law bars individuals with state contracts in excess of $50,000 from contributing to the campaign funds of officials administering the contracts.

Blagojevich's fate rests with the twelve jurors and six alternates selected for the trial. They are seven men and eleven women. They include a Japanese-American male born in an internment camp following the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought America into World War II, an ex-Marine severely injured while on duty in the Middle East, an officer in the U.S. Navy, a retired Illinois Public Health Department official, a former postal service employee, a marathon runner, and a knitting enthusiast.

They were instructed by Zagel to set aside any preconceptions of Blagojevich and decide the case on the evidence alone. But, putting aside notions of the omniscient former governor will not be easy. He's already been judged by state legislators who impeached him and removed him from office.

Since then, the glib, always smiling, boyish-looking, consummate politician has turned up almost daily on TV and radio talk shows and even appeared on Donald Trump's "The Celebrity Apprentice" show.