CHICAGO _ A federal appeals court Monday rejected former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's request for a rehearing, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court his only option to try to overturn his corruption conviction and 14-year prison sentence.
The petition for a rare en banc hearing before the entire 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was filed May 19, a month after a three-judge panel quickly rejected Blagojevich's case.
Requests for an en banc hearing are seldom granted, particularly in cases such as Blagojevich's where the original panel was unanimous. In order to succeed, either one of the three judges who decided the appeal _ Frank Easterbrook, Ilana Diamond Rovner and Michael Kanne _ or one of the other six judges in active service must ask for a vote by the full court.
None did, according to a three-sentence order issued Monday by the court.
Blagojevich's only remaining option would be to petition the U.S. Supreme Court _ a move also considered a legal long shot.
In April, the 7th Circuit's three-judge panel issued a terse, six-page ruling roundly rejecting arguments that U.S. District Judge James Zagel failed to consider key factors in Blagojevich's rehabilitation in prison when he resentenced the former governor last summer to the same 14-year term he'd handed down in 2011.
The opinion said Zagel had considered the glowing letters written from fellow inmates as well as other evidence of Blagojevich's good works in prison but found them unpersuasive.
As with many discretionary subjects, the fact that a judge could have ruled otherwise does not imply that the judge was compelled to rule otherwise, the opinion stated.
Blagojevich, 60, was convicted in 2011 of misusing his powers as governor in an array of wrongdoing, including most notably his attempts to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama after his 2008 election to the White House.
The conviction came less than a year after an initial trial ended with a jury deadlocked on all but one count of lying to the FBI, forcing the retrial.
In its first ruling in 2015, the 7th Circuit threw out five counts involving the Senate seat on technical grounds. But the court tempered the small victory for Blagojevich by calling the evidence against him overwhelming and making it clear that the original sentence was not out of bounds.
Zagel's decision in August to resentence Blagojevich to the original 14 years means he's slated to remain in prison until May 2024.
With limited legal options, Blagojevich's best hope for a reprieve at this point could be a commutation of his sentence from President Donald Trump, who had a friendly relationship with the ex-governor when he appeared on Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" reality show in 2010.
