CHICAGO _ Saying Rod Blagojevich's corruption diminished the public's "already taxed faith" in its elected leaders, a federal judge Tuesday imposed the same 14-year prison sentence he had in 2011 despite emotional pleas for leniency from the former governor, his wife and two daughters.
"I do not doubt that (Blagojevich) is a loving father and that his children miss him deeply in his absence," U.S. District Judge James Zagel said in announcing his decision in a packed courtroom. "But as I said four years ago, the fault lies in the governor."
The decision, which means Blagojevich, 59, will remain behind bars until 2024, appeared to stun the ex-governor, who was looking on by closed-circuit television from a federal prison in Colorado. As the hearing came to an end, Blagojevich, dressed in blue prison garb and with his famously jet-black hair now snow white, shook his head and brushed his mouth with his hand as he collapsed back into his seat, saying something inaudible.
Inside Zagel's 25th-floor courtroom, both of Blagojevich's daughters burst into tears when they realized their father's sentence had remained the same. Blagojevich, who could apparently hear the sobbing but could not see his family because the camera was still trained on the judge's bench, stood for a moment, then grabbed a brown file folder and walked off-screen.
As family members tried to console her, Blagojevich's older daughter, Amy, cried out, "He stole my childhood!" and gestured toward the bench that Zagel had left moments earlier.
Later, in the lobby of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, Blagojevich's wife, Patti, told reporters, "Quite frankly, I'm dumbfounded and flabbergasted" that the judge showed no leniency.
"This was unusually cruel and heartless and unfair," she said while flanked by Amy and her younger daughter, Annie, who had tears streaming down her cheeks. " ... Somehow, we will get through this. We love Rod. And we'll be here for him as we continue to fight."
Blagojevich's attorney, Leonard Goodman, told reporters he, too, was shocked by the decision.
"Maybe I'm an idiot, but I was stunned," said Goodman, who had asked Zagel to reduce Blagojevich's sentence to just five years, essentially meaning he would go free with time served.
Goodman said despite the legal setback, Blagojevich could still ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his case now that the resentencing is over and prosecutors have opted not to retry him on counts that were overturned by the federal appeals court. The move would be a long shot at best, however, especially considering the Supreme Court already declined to hear Blagojevich's case in March.
With Goodman still addressing reporters, Patti Blagojevich and her daughters quietly stepped away from the microphones, weaved their way through the crowd to the courthouse exit and a horde of TV camera crews on the sidewalk and climbed into an awaiting sedan. Across the street, attendees of the farmers market on the federal plaza turned to find the source of the commotion as one man yelled, "Let Rod go!"
The two-hour hearing Tuesday marked a dramatic conclusion to a legal saga that began when FBI agents rousted Blagojevich from bed on a December morning nearly eight years ago.
Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 of misusing his powers as governor in an array of wrongdoing. The appeals court last year dismissed five counts against the former governor, but the remaining counts included charges involving his attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama on his election as president. While ordering that Blagojevich be resentenced on the remaining 13 counts, the three-judge panel called the evidence against Blagojevich "overwhelming" and made it clear that Zagel's original sentence was not out of bounds.
As reporters and spectators filed into Zagel's courtroom Tuesday, the video feed popped up on large screens showing Blagojevich sitting in a chair in a stark room with cinder block walls.
Signal problems in Zagel's courtroom made it difficult at times for a clear view of Blagojevich's face. As he waited for the hearing to begin, he fidgeted with his hands and glanced nervously from side to side. A prison official confirmed the audio was working, then said, "I'm just gonna put this on mute until he needs to talk."
As he had argued in court filings, Goodman told the judge that without the five counts, the remaining charges against the ex-governor were "significantly different," emphasizing that Blagojevich never profited from his actions. He paid for his own clothes, his daughters' schooling, even baseball tickets, the lawyer said.
"We believe he is ready to come home," Goodman said.
Goodman also noted the dozens of letters from fellow inmates praising Blagojevich for his mentoring, teaching U.S. history and playing in a band called "The Jailhouse Rockers."
But prosecutors were not impressed, saying Blagojevich had not changed and urging Zagel to impose the same 14-year prison sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Bonamici emphasized that Blagojevich apologized for making "mistakes" but said he has never taken responsibility for the crimes he was convicted of or shown true remorse. She pointed to federal wiretaps that captured Blagojevich as governor over and over talking about what he stood to gain from his crimes, including one conversation in which he talked about a lucrative deal that would get him "f-ing out of Illinois."
"As long as the defendant is unable or unwilling to accept responsibility for what he actually did and what he actually meant when he did it, there can be no rehabilitation," Bonamici said.
Both of Blagojevich's daughters read emotional pleas to the judge to let their father come home. Annie, now 13, said she talks every night with her father by phone, but it can't replace him being present in her life. When he went to prison, she said, she could barely play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the piano. Now she's playing Beethoven.
"I almost don't want to grow up because I want to wait for him to come home," Annie said.
His older daughter, Amy, 20, said it was difficult to stay connected with her dad or even to have private conversations with him during visits to prison.
"The longer my father is gone, the more and more estranged my sister and I become from him," she said.
As his daughters spoke, Blagojevich appeared to choke up, putting a fist to his mouth and wincing. He smiled sadly as Annie spoke of her longing for the days when they "can be a big, happy family together again" eating popcorn while watching movies at night.
In his 15 minutes of remarks, Blagojevich apologized for his "mistakes" and said he wished he could turn back the clock, "but I know this is not possible."
"I recognize it was my actions and my words that led me here," Blagojevich said in a soft voice. "This can be a beginning to make amends for the past."
The former governor said it pains him that his actions have hurt his family and blamed himself for putting his loved ones in that situation. Over the last 4{ years behind bars, he said, he's become closer to God and found solace in helping fellow inmates. He spoke specifically about President Abraham Lincoln and how his steady resolve leading the nation through the Civil War has been a source of inspiration for him.
"In times of trouble and disaster, they don't have to be the end of things, they can also be the beginning," Blagojevich said.
Zagel said that he realized the suffering of Blagojevich's family and applauded him for being a model prisoner, but that the former governor's conduct in prison was not as big a factor as the wrongdoing he committed while in office.
The prisoners, the judge said, "know him only from the inside."
"They didn't know him in the context of a powerful officeholder in the Congress and in Illinois," Zagel said.
The judge also rejected the argument that the case against Blagojevich was any weaker because of the five counts thrown out on appeal. Zagel said the governor engaged in a clear pattern of corruption that benefited him personally and politically.
"He sees himself as less morally culpable, but I don't draw such a clear moral distinction," Zagel said. "As in many cases, political and personal gains were very much intermingled here."
Blagojevich stared into the camera as Zagel read the sentence, occasionally glancing downward to his feet. As the judge left the courtroom, Blagojevich remained standing for several minutes, at one point shaking his head with a look of disgust.
Blagojevich's brother, Robert, also attended the sentencing hearing, traveling from his home near Nashville, Tenn., to support Rod, despite the fact the two have not spoken or seen each other for six years.
