As the news is better understood, it is certainly understood that the government could have presented the case better, but besides a lone holdout, Rod Blagojevich would have been convicted of at least a couple of the more serious charges and perhaps more.
Of particular concern, several jurors said Wednesday, was the lone holdout on numerous counts that would have convicted Blagojevich of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. John Grover, 52, a juror from Joliet, said he grew so frustrated after three days of deliberating on the same charge that he yelled at the woman who refused to join the other 11 in agreeing to convict.
“I gave her a piece of my mind,” Grover said. “If it wasn’t for that one lady, we’d have had him convicted on probably 80 percent of (the indictment).”
Grover considered going to the judge to tell him that the female juror was deliberating in bad faith, but he felt that would do no good.
The holdout is a retired state public health employee who lives in the west suburbs and had once served as director of teen counseling for the Chicago Urban League. During jury selection, she said she had read about the governor’s arrest but had no preconceived opinion about the case. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
“He was lucky,” Grover said of Blagojevich. “I hate to put it like that, but the amount of evidence that prosecution presented to us — there was so much of it. I don’t see how anybody could come to any other conclusion.”
A sane man would strike a plea bargain with the US Attorney. Rod Blagojevich will not.
One of my great frustrations with the end of the trial is the lambasting of the jury. Jurors in this kind of case are pretty much by definition not terribly well informed on current events. It doesn’t make them dumb, but they have other priorities to pay attention to in their lives. However, as is clear, even the lone holdout took all of this very seriously and they all seem very conscientious. They don’t deserve the scorn they are getting especially en masse. They did a job most of us treat as a bit of a joke and deserve our thanks.
Oh, and we’ll get the dumb bastard next trial.
ArchPundit