... >>we are probably moments away we're going to bring back rick pearson at tribune tower and we want to welcome our viewers from around the country and are joining us through doubly aegean americato the aegean america wgn america >>rod blagojevich apologized before the judge to the people of the state of illinois to his family to the judge to the jury

he said he had no one to blame but himself for his own stupidity. he asked the judge for mercy. >>we realize that while the former governor made every effort to try and ask for compassion from the judge thinking that at some point there may be the possibility of an appeal ... he has walked a fine line with his back against the wall trying to do one thing with the intent of another. >>what he did was to apologize for lots of things but never accepting responsibility for committing crimes are breaking the law so without that admission it's tough to see this

judge giving any form of leniency to the governor we are preparing for a very harsh sentencing here. >>rick pearson one of the things we wanted to ask you was about that atmosphere in springfield during the rod blagojevich time in office did it grind to a halt? >>there was a complete lack of trust in the governor at the time. legislators had to ask for contractual memorandums of understanding with his signature so that they could of force agreementsenforce agreements. it was believed he was operating in his own world the general system assemblyassembly stonewalled ... there

was a two-part aspect to the governor he would always find a positive spin in any situation to promote his position ... mike madigan did stand up to rod blagojevich on a number of issues but it was virtually all of the general assembly ... the senate president at that time may have banned his biggest ally pushing the blagojevich agenda but most of the legislators in springfield had no respect for the governor.

>>even though he knew he was under the microscope he seemed to continue with business as usual >>because of a massive amounts of money that blagojevich had raised the investigation by the federal government had the legislature take action in that limitations on contributions to the governor's office. and that kind of put him on high gear to ramp up his fund-raising effort before the legislative deadline for campaign contributions. >>that's right remember there was such an immediacy to his effort at the time >>that's right the law went into effect just one month after his

arrest. and so much was caught on tape and phone conversations and ultimately used against the former governor in court >>he spent the bulk of his time away from his state office here in chicago he rarely traveled to springfield a number of lawmakers were particularly incensed when he called a special session only to see him and a newscast attending a blackhawks game that night the rank-and-file lawmakers distained his unwillingness to work hard on the tough legislative issues always trying to market himself as the populist and fund-raiser in chief. >>he was able to get through this cta seniors ride free pass

... and that was expected to win favor with citizens >>you are right politically but the trade-off was that the legislature had to approve an increase in taxes ... there was a funding bill for mass transit ... so he wrote rewrote the bill so that he could get the necessary funding it was all based on a campaign promise not to raise taxes >>and the governor got angry when he was a 13% in the polls ... proclaiming that he was giving the public so much often

colored with expletives ... >>that was one of our last wgn tribune polls on his performance ... one of the things he did apologize to the judge for today was his self- centered nessness.. some of these politicians don't get at the universe does not revolve around them and that they get to a group with rod blagojevich this morning finally occurred to rod blagojevich evidence in his statement this morning ... and don't forget that judge

james zagel has a background in state government as well he served as the director of the illinois department of law enforcement and the james r. thompson administration so one of the things that has not been discussed so far is that james zagel has tremendous respect as to how state government is designed to function. government did function during those times in years in stark contrast to rod blagojevich as term's term vs. thompson's

>>remember everyone in the senate was voting to impeach the governor saying that he was not doing his job but doing a job that was triggering impeachable offenses ... one of the things he grabbed heading out of the capitol office was his hair brush! and we remember him trying to reach out to that first jury in his first case. >>he said himself " i never set out to break the law or cross those lines >>and he also said that he

should've known better as governor and that he was so incredibly sorry that was a statement from this morning this is something we have not seen from him before ... >>we are hearing from the court room from judge james zagel just a few of the question the judge before he hands down the sentence he said the big question for him was it did rod blagojevich accept responsibility and was that done too late? >>very telling ... >>terry sullivan had mentioned to this some time ago was it too late for him to show this regret and was it too late for him to express apologies. still

he has not admitted any guilt >>judge james zagel could have questioned rod blagojevich this morning after his statement and he chose not to. >>this is one of the reasons why i believe this judge knew exactly what he was going to do. >>not trying to read into the mind of the judge but this trial is over and rod blagojevich did not take the stand he did not ... excuse me he did take the stand ... so the judge really

did not have more he wanted to hear from him he did not take the stand in the first trial he did in the second trial >>we spoke earlier about the impeachment ... and the judge said that a negative was that the former governor never offered to step down from his position ... >>the judge did have the right to say that but as an analyst you have to do think about this ... he had not been tried during

an impeachment ... to step down and have accepted killed back themany guilt back then was more of a legal strategy so not doing at was a calculated risk on his part >>he finally appeared on the day when he was no longer under oath to tell the truth facing impeachment ... >>he repeated that he never set out to break the law or cross any lines ... that's just one of those ambiguous statements that

the judge took another look at and scratched his head ... >>it could be a true statement but we are talking about rod blagojevich who was a former prosecutor and a former attorney he had to know that he was crossing the line were taking certain risks ... by delegating some of these maneuvers that he would somehow isolate himself but as a lawyer he's got to understand the scope of responsibility here. >>as the chief executive of the state for his attorneys to try to insinuate that others around him were the ones breaking the law and not the governor is a stretch ... as chief executive

we know that the proverbial buck must have stopped their >>it was really tony rezko who was a bad guy in his mind ... >>when they were trying to pitch 3 1/2 years of probation ... that was yesterday there was dead silence ... the judge did give them an open ear but no deal on something like that ... >>lots of our viewers are sympathetic to the blagojevich

coppel as parents under the circumstances damage judge looks at everything but in the federal system there are a series of factors almost a point system use of these in those briefs argued by the lawyers the mitigating factors the aggravating factors defendants are better off these days it used to be that those standards required to church to do a rope form of sentencingte form of sentencing but now he has a bit more latitude in crafting this sentence. >>the judge has seen this many

times before it's not the first time he has had to deal with the human factors here. a person with a family financial responsibility etc. >>this judge having worked in the government's system is looking at the big picture ... the other factors are there but nothing out waysweighs what the judge perceives is a monumental violation of public trust on the part of a highly placed elected official.

>>judge james zagel has heard so much before. >>sarah rod blagojevich in his statement this morning said he except said the verdicts he accepts responsibility he is genuinely sorry ... still no admission of guilt >>we understand that any moment now the judge will be issuing his sentence. >>so the viewers understand ...

this judge is reading an opinion he will give a detailed explanation of exactly what the sentences how is being crafted how he calculated this he understands this will go up on appeal later on. he will be explicit. >>when a case goes up on appeal one of the things that is a given is that there is no retrial of the case on appeal. the defense raises issues with errors ... these other things

that the court has to wrestle with it's not going against what the jury decided necessarily. >>the judge says that he does not believe that the governor got bad legal advice he believes that he did not take the advice of counsel he accept his apology nonetheless ... >>the judges in the courtroom about to issue the sentence. >>we said earlier that this is a judge who has made it very clear from the beginning ... angry at that defense team and angry at the former gov. buddy will not

let personal feelings get in the way but he will not let personal feelings get in the way of his sentencing decision. >>you can see even on a ruling that this is a very thoughtful judge. >>judge james zagel says that his acceptance of responsibility today means that he will reduce the sentence ... he said he sees case after case where good fathers can be bad citizens ... but it does not

change the fact that you were convicted of a crime. >>evidence that the judge is giving thought to the former governor's comments this morning ... >>we have seen a change in rod blagojevich and i think the judge may have seen this ... from rambunctious mr. remorseto remorse

>>he is terrified but i hope he understands the decor of the needs to the year tum and how he needs to conduct himself >>it is valid for people however to question the motive here with the former governor he has after all bend quite manipulative throughout these trials and certainly in the way he conducted himself in office >>there's high drama and the court room at this moment right

now on the 25th floor rod blagojevich is standing before the judge james zagel. he said the abuse of the office of governor is more damaging than any other office with the exception of the president of the united states ... so this is an inkling into the thinking of the judge and the gravity of these offenses and how the judge believes that this has had a corrosive effect on illinois government. >>he is going back and forth between accepting the government's apology and reprimanding him for his actions >>the guidelines involved 155 to 188 months that amounts to about 12-15 years. the effective

guidelines land there. it's just an unbelievable moment once again we want to remind you that we are waiting to hear the actual sentence ... the prosecutors have asked for 15-20 years sounds like the judge agrees ... but i'm under the impression that the sentence will come down within the next five minutes ... but the judge is taking his time meticulously describing the sentencing guidelines and how he is applying this to each of those 18 corruption counts. is there

any feeling you are getting from inside the courtroom? the contrition the mia culpa on the part of the former gov. >>you could hear a pin drop everyone is hanging on every single word. the judge will ask the former governor to stand before he imposes the sentence. this capacity of two dodgers 50 people in that courtroom all seats are taken it is crowded possibly overflowing ... many are here wanting to witness a piece of history. >>there are people who have come off the streets ... i spoke to

people lucas wanted to be witnesseswho just wanted to be here as witnesses to this event. back to you in the studio. >>going back to the " made by the governor talking about conditioncontrition: >>i have made terrible mistakes i want to apologize to the people of illinois " >>yesterday judge james zagel said that perhaps the sentencing could have been up to 30 or more years ... but there was an outside range that even the

prosecutors were not going for ... it appears as though everyone is attempting to give the dutchjudge guidance and some reasonable way ... looking at these aggravating and mitigating factors he is now making his mathematical calculation for the sentencing ... >>i have been curious about where he will go to serve his time ... >>we will not here today where he will be sent. if the sentences less than 10 years he

can go to one of the easier federal facilities if it is over 10 years he will go to a general federal penitentiary a much harder place. there is no such thing as a good jail mind you. incarceration is serious and not easy. the bureau will try to keep him as close to his family as possible but there are no guarantees ... >>the judge also said anderson and you only wanted to to good when it benefited" i and understand you wanted to do good when it only

benefited a fewyou" >>even though the former governor was against the wall he expressed his contrition however not has killedhis guilt ... >>you know federal judges don't just end up on that federal bench they are nominated they need to appear before a u.s. senate committee these are pretty brilliant jurists ... they fully understand the rule of law and the gravity surrounding the decisions they make. he knows that he will be

impacting other lives besides that of the governor. >>168 months. that is the sentence we have just heard it from the court room rod blagojevich will serve 168 months that's approximately ... 14 years? >>the information is coming and little by little 22 years totally. there are concurrent terms being sentenced here.

>>concurrent means that these run together ... we need to hear this he is getting 14 years for former rod blagojevich. >>we will go over these numbers in different segments for different charges. >>this judge we all believed to be harsh on this former gov. he seems to have gone underneath the lower end of the prosecution's recommendation with only 14 years here as opposed to the 15-20 the prosecution asked for >>we are pausing now as we are

trying to discern the information coming out of the court room on the sentencing term ... >>there were three sentences 168 months 60 months and 30 months all serving concurrently ... >>does this have bearing ... >>the judge can sentence him to concurrent or consecutive terms concurrent means they run together he will serve all three of these sentences within the

longest time sentenced. there were three different natures of charges here. >>the total will be 14 years in federal prison. there were three different sets of charges. >>fellow requires that he serves 85 percent. the former governor will be in jail for 11 years and nine months. that is guaranteed.

he has to report for custody february 16th. there will be post trial appearances where he will be prepared for prison. >>and there will be an appeal here ... the judge is not granting him freedom during an appeal process that appeal will

proceed while he is serving time ... his defense team may make the effort to have him free during the appeal but it is unlikely that will be granted. >>randi belisomo is live outside the blagojevich komen ravenswood manor with reaction people are used to seeing him as a family man here the proximity to the next governor makes people neighbors here more sympathetic. he was sentenced to

14 years and the time here that he has is growing slamim he leaves behind his wife who is out of a job. she will be relying on her father alderman dick mell for support. in this time of crisis after estrangement from her father they're coming together. the former gov. has had trouble selling the home here he had to cut the price by $72,000 to just under 1 million. the blagojevich family had been spotted at paws

chicago looking for a new dog recently. he was joking with his daughter amy that the public might servea new puppy could serve as a daddy replacement ... >>or at least she can call the puppy daddy in his absence >>i feel that this is a harsh sentence ... i feel if all of our phone lines were tapped we would all be in trouble. i am a non-political person ... >>we will be standing by outside

of the former governor's home here ... he has been away from public access it he says anything he may say it when he arrives back here later >>we have on the phone former u.s. attorney jeff kramer >>this is not too surprising ... it was clear yesterday that the judge agreed with the government on the legal issues. i don't think the former gov. dick himself any favors making his statement today. did himself any favors

today a special with the use of the word permissible and reference to government favors and that statement. >>i think the judge came close to what the prosecution asked for ... the number speaks volumes ... 14 years clearly indicates the judge took this very seriously. and blagojevich may not have. and the jury thought that he perjured himself because they did not believe him at times >>jeff, one of the theories is that the former gov. was getting more than double of what governor ryan received ... do

you think part of the judge's decision is to send a message with a deterrent to future elected officials? >>i think you are spot on. we had a former gov. serving six years while this gov. was committing crimes in office himself and with that 10 and a half year sentence for tony rezko i think the message is being sent all-around. anyone contemplating doing this has to understand that these are big number sentences coming down for this kind of activity >>let's go now to the dirksen federal building to terry sullivan our legal analyst with julian crews >>it's really amazing terry when

you think about it almost three years to the day when federal agents appeared at the home of rod blagojevich taking him into custody it has been a long road to get here today. what was the demeanor of the former governor when the sentence was handed down? >>when he approached the judge he really did not have that much motion he looked dazed to me. i was only about 6 ft. away from him. he grabbed his wife patty and said he will see her in a few minutes he walked around to the podium. he took a public tongue lashing from the judge ... but the judge went back and forth ... this was certainly a stern sentence considering what

governor ryan got 14 years is a long time ... but the impetus was that rod blagojevich eroded public trust. he put him on a level all the way up there just below the presidency of the united states with is elected office as governor of illinois ... >>he also said that he had certain traits that did not qualify him as governor ... he did give him credit for some of the good things he tried to do in that role but he was not lenient. it is obvious he was

sending a strict message with this sentencing >>and what about the emotions of his wife patty ... when that sentence was read what was your reaction >>she did not have much a reaction she did turn to her sister after the sentencing was plane faced she was in her own mind prepared it doesn't mean that she won't crash and the privacy of her own home because it is a long sentence when you take it all land ... the governor will do around 12 years and that will make him

around 65 when he is released the children will be all grown up ... >>we know rod blagojevich has to surrender to federal marshals on february 16th it is not clear where he will be assigned for his sentence but as a former prosecutor you know the told this can take on a family ... this will be a difficult holiday as the former gov. contemplates coming out of jail and retirement age ... >>this will be an awful holiday ... something very difficult as i told you from what i am covered today and before, i believe in my heart that in fact

this gov. actually believed that he still would get probation of some kind and that just was not in the cards and i believe that he truly thinks to this day he did not do anything wrong. i compared him earlier to don quixote ... nothing changes my mind after the sentencing ... he still quite delusional. >>a stunning moment in illinois history thank-you terry sullivan. a 14 year sentence. he

will serve anywhere from 11-12 years at the minimum ... this is a day illinois citizens will not forget this is the second consecutive illinois gov. headed to the federal penitentiary adding to the moment a difficult one for the people of illinois to swallow. >>julie unruh reports from upstairs that the governor is sobbing literally after hearing this sentence ... >>well is a stiff sentence and the judge said that he wants to send a message ... on a state level there are murderers who do

not do this much time getting out in less than 14 years ... >>here's a guy who will be near 70 when he comes out his children will be grown up these hurried the human factors but there are consequences for those actions of the abuse of power >>you saw the governor gets pretty emotional julie >>it was actually patti bloagojevich there was little emotion at the time when the sentence was being handed down she had her composure ... but the floor got cleared and she rushed to her husband's arms they are now openly affectionate couple he embraced her and

that's when she broke down she has been the emotional face on these trials he always put up a tough front this has played out a little bit differently ... 14 years ... >>i think there was no doubt that the judge sent a message here we heard him say ok you were governor that's as close as you can be to something equivalent to a presidency ... you knew he would be held to a high standard. he did temper this by saying that every governor does to do good things and is devoted to family and that this wasn't necessarily

unusual for a man in his role ... but he did say that the devotion to his family should have stopped him from where he was going with these crimes. he will be in serious 67 year-old man by the time he gets off that's a very long time. unfortunately for lotrod blagojevich that is what he will face if he is unsuccessful in the appeal. >>he said that the guidelines really called for 30 years to life in this circumstance so the judge said that he is taking

this as far as he could go ... this is more than double of what former gov. george ryan was sentenced to. judge zagel really focused on the erosion of public trust. >>he talked about how no money and may have switched hands ... but he said that the governors the highest office in the land next to the president of the united states ... i wondered as i listen to this judge put it altogether ... when the governor

goes bad the fabric of the state is torn and not easily repaired and that rod blagojevich did some damage here ... this is about the politics as well >>he said that i am not in a take the guidelines that says what you are good or not good as governor >>the judge was brought back into the political aspect of this trial ... this is official corruption there were charges that addressed public trust ... when you have the chief executive position of the state this corruption trickles down and is not not easily repaired >>how did you feel about the blagojevich plea for mercy ...

and those statements and apologies? >>that's all it is the judge said it was too little too late ... the judge said you should of thought about all of this earlier ... had he thought about those two girls his children he may not be standing here facing sentencing. >>the judges see this kind of thing every day these human factors ... even the most

ruthless of criminals have some goodness and somewhere there is a family member affected >>he said his life was in ruins his political career is over his lawyer in days are over he could not afford a home ... >>quite theatrical and awayin a way.. does this statement ever really have impact on a judge? >>i believe it did in this respect the judge said that he accepted the governor's apology to him personally and he continued to refer to him as governor he is entitled to what

he was given in of vote of the people but the judge was not about to get past sending that message that for that reason he betrayed their trust it gets back to the politics once again. the government gave rezko 10 and a half years bringing up that he was not a public official ... there's a lot more to lose if you screw up criminally as an elected official. >>when you sit in this room in your heart is in your throat is

there any way to mentally prepare for this moment >>i still don't think rod blagojevich believe that this day would happen. when he spoke to the judge about his oldest daughter amy who told him crying " daddy here know you did not do anything wrong please go out and talk to the media and let them know " and that's when he said he had to accept that it was over. but today he really believed he would be eligible for probation and that the judge

would have show some mercy i refer constantly to don quixote and i believe that rod blagojevich believes in his mind that he did nothing wrong to this day! he is still wrestling with the fact that he did not do anything wrong in his quest for political contributions. >>the one good thing that came out of this is that over the last three years rod blagojevich had a lot of time with his family. however the public fight he waged must be

hard for them to process. >>now he is out of the limelight so speak >>i think kids of that age will have a hard time processing this they were all in on that bandwagon in that public campaign believing in their father's innocence they still shared his mentality ... amy has dealt with this since the age of 10 years old now she has to live with the fact that she has a convicted felon for a father. it's not as though her name is smith ... you can ask any child psychologist ... these children

need care. >>it was an emotional day here in court terry and i have been here from the beginning there has been a lot of mechanics lots of legal process we have witnessed today was about the demotion it was a fast process today the judge remained fair and stonefaced. we are awaiting comments from the government prosecutors at this time as well as the blagojevich family should they have any statements >>we want to say to our wgn american viewers we will say goodbye but our coverage continues locally for the viewers here in a chicago-area who want to stay with us because there is a lot