Judge sentences former Blagojevich trial witness

A federal judge chose not to send a cooperating witness in the prosecution of Rod Blagojevich to prison for his role in trying to shake down an asset management firm, sentencing the former fundraiser on Tuesday to three years of probation.

Joseph Cari, 58, is one of the first notable figures to be sentenced of those who took plea deals and testified against the former Illinois governor. Blagojevich’s former chiefs of staff John Harris and Alonzo Monk are among those still awaiting sentencing.

Cari, who pleaded guilty to attempted extortion, told Judge Amy St. Eve just before she sentenced him that he took full responsibility for his actions and was sorry.

“I will live with the shame and pain for the rest of my life,” he said.

A former finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Cari described to jurors at Blagojevich’s first corruption trial how the then-governor boasted to him in 2003 about how governors could pressure companies desperate for state business for campaign cash.

Prosecutors decided not to call Cari as part of their streamlined case at the retrial this year, where Blagojevich was convicted of counts including trying to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat for a high-paying job or campaign donations. Blagojevich is slated to be sentenced Oct. 6.

As part of Cari’s probation, St. Eve said he must remain on home confinement for the first nine months, though he will be able to leave to go to work or even to travel abroad on business. The maximum prison sentence for extortion is 20 years.

Standing with his hands folded in front of him, Cari was calm as St. Eve told him he would not be heading for prison.

That contrasted with his testimony at Blagojevich’s first trial, when he choked back tears as he spoke about trying to cope with depression after his wife died. He made news later the same day when a TV camera swung around and knocked him over outside court, sending him sprawling on the floor.

A government attorney heaped rare praise on a defendant Tuesday, as prosecutor Reid Schar said Cari played an important role in cooperating with prosecutors and helped trigger events that led to Blagojevich’s conviction.

“I cannot recall a defendant I encountered who was as remorseful as Mr. Cari,” Schar added.

Cari’s lawyer, Scott Lassar, joked that Schar was so complimentary, perhaps he should waive his own remarks.

At Blagojevich’s first trial, Cari told jurors that the governor’s advisers dangled the possibility that he could get law business and other fees from the state if he put his fundraising contacts to work for a possible Blagojevich run for the White House.

Cari said he eventually bowed to pressure from Stuart Levine, a Blagojevich campaign contributor and influential member of the board that governed a multibillion-dollar fund that pays the pensions of Illinois teachers not in Chicago. Levine wanted Cari to call the Virginia-based asset management firm and warn them they would lose an $80 million allocation from the fund if they didn’t hire a consultant they had never met. Cari said that when the head of the management firm asked why, he had a simple answer: “That’s the way they do it in Illinois.”

Levine has pleaded guilty to taking part in a $7 million kickback scheme with former Blagojevich fundraiser Tony Rezko. Neither Levine nor Rezko testified at Blagojevich’s trial. Both are awaiting sentencing.