Prosecutors promise retrial after jurors convict Blago on 1 count

The trial is over, but a fight is still in store for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich after a lone holdout saved him from conviction on the charge of attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President Obama.

On Tuesday a federal jury deadlocked on 23 of the 24 counts against Blagojevich and four counts against his fundraising brother, Robert.

The only count jurors agreed on was perhaps the most minor: making false statements to the FBI. The jury found the former governor guilty of that charge.

One female juror who "just didn't see what we all saw" held out against conviction on a charge that Blagojevich attempted to extort money for making an appointment to the U.S. Senate, according to juror Erik Sarnello, 21, of Itasca.

Sarnello said the six-man, six-woman panel also was at an 11-1 impasse on several other charges of attempted extortion and bribery.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said prosecutors have every intention of retrying Blagojevich and are already preparing for a new trial.

That means there will likely be a repeat of the 21/2-month-long trial filled with theatrics and suspense.

Blagojevich faces five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for lying to the FBI by saying he did not know or want to know who contributed campaign funds to him and for claiming he maintained a "firewall" between politics and government.

Blagojevich called the charge "nebulous" and said he'll appeal the conviction. He lashed out against prosecutors for a case he described as "persecution."

"They threw everything they could at me - 24 charges that I've said from the beginning are false - and the jury agreed that the government did not prove its case," Blagojevich said.

While the former governor is not free and clear, prosecutors clearly were disappointed.

A stone-faced Fitzgerald spoke very briefly, saying only that prosecutors will return to court Aug. 26 prepared to set a new trial date.

But Blagojevich attorney Sam Adam Jr. found the idea ludicrous, calling it a waste of taxpayer money against a client he said is a "noncorrupt individual."

"Why should they pay me ... when we've already been through a trial?" he said.

The verdict came on the 14th day of deliberations, after a trial in which jurors heard evidence that ranged from a former deputy governor testifying Blagojevich hid in the bathroom to avoid state business to a hospital administrator saying he believed Blagojevich was threatening to withhold state money unless he ponied up a campaign contribution.

Prosecutors portrayed him as a greedy, smart political schemer determined to use his power to enrich himself, while his attorney characterized him as an insecure bumbler who talked too much and had terrible judgment about whom to trust.

The jury heard Blagojevich on secret wiretap tapes speaking of the Senate seat and saying his chance to name a senator was "(bleeping) golden."

Blagojevich said loudly and often after his December 2008 arrest that he planned to testify in his own defense, then abruptly decided on the advice of his attorneys not to do so - a strategy that defense attorneys will portray as "a stroke of genius," said DePaul College of Law professor Leonard Cavise.

"I think on the second trial, and there will be a second trial, there's not a chance in the world he will testify," Cavise said.

Chicago's Dirksen Federal Building, where the trial was held, is a place where the government's track record on convictions is about 96 percent, Palos Heights attorney and Chicago Kent College of Law Professor Richard Kling said.

"I said from the very beginning that this government could not prove Rod Blagojevich guilty of a single offense of corruption ... and we were right," Adam said.

As Blagojevich arrived for the verdict Tuesday afternoon, he shook hands with some of the onlookers who've crowded the courthouse entrance throughout the trial and asked members of the media to "pray for me." His wife, Patti, appeared strained and anxious.

Blagojevich spoke of the toll on his family since he was arrested on an early December morning in 2008 at his Chicago home. He left the courthouse to the sound of applause.

Michael Ettinger, the attorney for Robert Blagojevich, praised jurors for their efforts.

Jurors set the stage for Tuesday's verdict when they told Judge James Zagel last week they were unable to reach a decision on all but two of the 24 counts. Zagel urged jurors to keep trying, and by Tuesday that unanimity had dropped to just one count.

The count they ended up losing 100 percent agreement on was a bribery charge alleging the ex-governor tried to shake down former U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, juror Stephen Wlodek said.

Wlodek, 36, of Bartlett said between one and five jurors sided with Blagojevich on every count.

Experts differed on what the future holds for the ousted governor.

"He may have a slight victory today, but next time he definitely will get convicted," predicted defense attorney Terry Ekl, who represented Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris. "The evidence is overwhelming."

However, former prosecutor Terry Sullivan of Rolling Meadows called the outcome a huge surprise, noting "the one conviction, not to minimize it, is probably the least of them all and certainly the most appealable."

•Daily Herald reporters Marco Santana, Ashok Selvam, Russell Lissau, Mick Zawislak, Christy Gutowski and Lenore Adkins contributed to this report.