Law and Order

How Blagojevich Got Off

Just one juror refused to convict.

A single juror refused to convict former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich of trying to sell Barack Obama’s old senate seat after the 2008 election. The other jurors grew increasingly frustrated as it appeared she could not be swayed during the two weeks of deliberations, and one juror even considered telling the judge the woman was deliberating in bad faith. That juror is also refusing to talk to the press. Her influence led to deadlock on several other counts. Experts said it was unlikely that in the retrial the defense would be so “lucky,” as one juror put it, to get an “outlier juror.” Other watchers say that this time, prosecutors should call to the stand fundraiser Tony Rezko and consultant Stuart Levine to the stand, as they “know where the bodies are buried,” one expert said.