Blago Reindicted? Are New Charges A-Comin'?

By Karl Klockars in News on Dec 7, 2009 10:00PM

Could Rod Blagojevich be the ex-Governor so prosecutorially "nice," we indicted him twice? Federal officials are considering it just to avoid a trial delay, so sayeth Natasha Korecki in the Sun-Times:

“To avoid any unnecessary delay in the June [2010] trial date, the government anticipates requesting the grand jury return a second superseding indictment in the instant case towards the end of January 2010,” prosecutors wrote today. “At this time, it is anticipated that any new charges would be based on the underlying conduct that currently encompasses the pending charges.”

The reason? The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing a case tomorrow pertaining to the federal "honest services" statute, a statute used in the current charges against Blago. The Trib explains:

Honest services fraud criminalizes schemes that deprive the public or the government of the right to have public officials perform their duties honestly.

The honest services statute makes up a portion of a number of the charges against Blagojevich, alleging that he violated his official duties while illegally leveraging the powers of his office to benefit himself.

So an impending Supreme Court ruling on that case could either have no effect on Blago or it could completely undermine the case against him. Hence the new charges. For state lawyers, Rod Blagojevich could truly be the gift that keeps on giving. And between the theft of his lawyer's computers, the impending anniversary of his arrest and this newest plan from prosecutors, it sounds like it's going to be a rough week for the Blago household. It's a good thing he's got that Columbia College event to keep his mind occupied.