After 14 days of deliberations with requests for instruction and transcripts from Judge James Zagel the jury in Rod Blagojevich's trial is in.

He was found guilty of making false statements to the FBI, one count, with a possible sentence of 5 years in jail.  The jury is hung, deadlocked, unable to come to a consensus, on the other 23 counts against him. 

Judge Zagel has declared a mistrial on the 23 remaining charges which leaves wide open the possibility that Blagojevich will be tried again.  The prosecution has been given until August 27th to file papers to retry the case.  Prosecutors responded that they can be ready tomorrow to retry the case. It seems a foregone conclusion that Blagojevich will be tried again

Rod Blagojevich's brother, Robert was also on trial on four charges and the jury was unable to come to a verdict on any of his charges.  He will most likely be tried again as well.

He was charged with 24 counts, including wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion, bribery, bribery conspiracy, racketeering, and racketeering conspiracy. He faced up to 20 years in jail for some of the more serious felonies. He could also lose his home in Chicago's Ravenswood Garden and a condo in Washington, D.C. if he is convicted on the racketeering charges and can't come up with the cash to pay penalties from the conviction.

The case hinged on Blagojevich's habit of asking for campaign donations and in some cases income for his wife in exchange for state business. He was also accused of trying to sell President Obama's vacated senate seat to the highest bidder. Is this politics as usual in Chicago and Illinois? Political donations are made all of the time with expectations of favors/votes/laws proposed in the future. Is Rod's crime that he talked about the specific favors and promised them or does it run deeper? Was his office continually up for sale to the highest bidders?

The FBI used wire taps to monitor Blagojevich's home and office phones for months before arresting him on Dec 9, 2008. The FBI said they moved in at the time to prevent Blagojevich from selling the senate seat. Almost a month after his arrest, he did appointed Roland Burris to the US senate amid much controversy. On January 29th of 2009 Blagojevich was removed from office of the Governor of Illinois through an impeachment trial by the Illinois State Senate.