No Retrial for Blago's Brother

Federal prosecutors have dropped all four charges against Robert Blagojevich, brother of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, “in the interest of justice,” citing the “disparity of the roles,” the brothers had. For four months in 2008, Robert was in charge of fundraising for Friends of Blagojevich; he was charged with two counts of extortion conspiracy, one count of extortion, and one count of wire fraud. The feds’ decision was a surprise to Robert, who learned of it only minutes before the announcement, and his wife, Julie, burst into tears. Rod Blagojevich will be retried on 23 counts after his jury was hung on all but one charge, voting to convict him for lying to the FBI.