Prosecutors to Drop Some Charges Against Blago

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 23, 2011 8:30PM

As we inch closer to the Rod Blagojevich retrial, the federal prosecutors in the case have decided to drop some charges against the former governor that say are "duplicative" in an attempt to streamline the case (and, ostensibly, reduce the chances that a jury will deadlock on some charges because they don't understand them).

Gone from the case are racketeering charges where the actions have been charged in other counts, and a fraud charge. Blagojevich's attorney Sheldon Sorosky said that, while he's happy those charges have been dropped, it isn't going to change their approach to the retrial. Which, based on their pre-trial motions, seems to be "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks."

Prosecutors contend that dropping count one - racketeering - and count two, racketeering conspiracy, will shed at least 30 pages of jury instructions that had jurors in the first trial spinning their heads.