Rod Blagojevich, former
Governor of Illinois, is an American politician. He and his
Chief of Staff John Harris were charged with corruption by federal prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald. As a result, Blagojevich was
impeached by the
Illinois General Assembly and removed from office by the
Illinois Senate in January 2009. The federal investigation continued after his removal from office and he was
indicted on corruption charges in April 2009. The jury found him guilty of one charge of making false statements with a
mistrial being declared on the other 23 counts due to a
hung jury after 14 days of
jury deliberation. On June 27, 2011, after a retrial, Blagojevich was found guilty of 17 charges (including wire fraud, attempted extortion, and conspiracy to solicit bribes), not guilty on one charge and the jury deadlocked after 10 days of deliberation on the two remaining charges. On December 7, 2011, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.