Blagojevich Sentencing Hearing Set for Oct. 6

Judge James Zagel has set Oct. 6 for former governor Rod Blagojevich's sentencing hearing. Knowing who he's dealing with, Zagel indicated that he's prepared in case the hearing goes into a second day (or maybe longer) as, in addition to the character witnesses who will be brought in to testify for Blagojevich, Governor Sound Bite himself is set to testify on his own behalf.

This could take a while, folks.

Blagojevich's attorney, Sheldon Sorosky, said his client was “a good, honest governor who tried to help the people of Illinois. He cared about the ordinary guy.” Blagojevich faces up to 300 years in prison on 18 combined counts between his first and second trials. Prosecutors haven't said what length of sentence they'll be looking for, but it's believed that they'll ask for a sentence of 10 years minimum. By comparison, former Gov. George Ryan received a 6-1/2 year sentence in 2006 on his fraud conviction, so that could be prosecutors' baseline.