Jury in Blagojevich retrial ends talks for the day

As they pore over the accusations against impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, jurors at his corruption retrial won't find an actual charge of trying to hock an appointment to the U.S. Senate.

While that's the most notorious allegation against Blagojevich, the 20 actual charges on the verdict form are wire fraud, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, soliciting bribes, and conspiracy to solicit and accept bribes.

The 11 women and one man on the retrial jury — including a teacher, a librarian, former choir director and a recently laid-off marketing director — deliberated for a second day Monday and went home without reaching a verdict. They resume Tuesday.

Jurors at Blagojevich's first trial deadlocked on 23 of 24 charges after deliberating for 14 days over three weeks. They agreed only on a sole charge, that Blagojevich lied to the FBI.

To simplify the case and improve their chances of getting convictions, prosecutors dropped two highly complex counts, racketeering and racketeering conspiracy; they also dropped one wire fraud count.

Here are the counts the retrial jurors will have to vote on:

—WIRE FRAUD:

There are ten counts of wire fraud, which boil down to allegations that whatever schemes Blagojevich was plotting, he plotted them over the telephone.

Prosecutors introduced dozens of FBI wiretap recordings of Blagojevich allegedly seeking to exchange an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat for campaign cash or a top job. Blagojevich's allegedly illegal talk was done over his tapped phones, often from a phone in his library-office at his northwest Chicago home.

Nearly all the wire fraud counts relate to the Senate seat.

Each wire fraud count carries a maximum 20-year prison term, for a total of 200 years. Under federal guidelines, Blagojevich would likely get far less than the maximum sentence if he was convicted.

—ATTEMPTED EXTORTION:

Blagojevich faces four counts of attempted extortion — one count each for allegedly trying to shake down Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, a road-builder and a school in then-U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel's Chicago congressional district for campaign cash; one count has to do with the Senate seat.

Prosecutor Chris Niewoehner told jurors during opening statements that Blagojevich had the audacity to try and "shake down Barack Obama ... a man who would be president of the United States" by dangling the prospect of appointing an Obama friend to the seat in exchange for a Cabinet post. Prosecutors have never said Obama was even aware of the request.

The reason the charges are attempted extortion is that none of Blagojevich's alleged targets paid up or, in the case of the White House, ever offered Blagojevich a job. Defense attorney Aaron Goldstein noted several times to jurors that Blagojevich had never "pocketed a dime" from any alleged schemes. Prosecutor Reid Schar told jurors the attempt was the crime, likening Blagojevich to one who enters a bank wielding a gun but who is nabbed before he succeeds in carting away bags full of money.

Each of the four attempted extortion counts carries a maximum 20-year prison term.

—CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT EXTORTION:

The former governor faces two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion — that is, that he plotted with others to squeeze people for campaign cash or to parlay the Senate seat appointment into some benefit for himself.

One count relates to an allegation that Blagojevich withheld signing a bill beneficial to the horse-racing industry to pressure racetrack executive John Johnston to make a $100,000 campaign contribution. On wiretaps, Blagojevich is heard talking about the matter with law school buddy-turned-adviser Lon Monk.

Blagojevich is heard speaking with several people, including his then-chief of staff John Harris, about landing a Cabinet post in exchange for the Senate seat appointment.

There's a maximum 20 years sentence for each extortion conspiracy charge.

—SOLICITING BRIBES:

Blagojevich faces two counts of soliciting bribes — in one case from the children's hospital and in the other from a leader in the construction industry.

Children's Memorial Hospital CEO Patrick Magoon testified that he believed Blagojevich was threatening to cancel an $8 million state pediatric-care reimbursement unless he came up with a $25,000 campaign donation.

Road builder Gerald Krozel testified that Blagojevich broached the possibility of launching a multibillion-dollar highway program urgently needed by the industry, but he said Blagojevich seemed to make it contingent on first getting $500,000 in campaign money.

Each of the two bribery counts carries a sentence of up to 10 years.

—CONSPIRACY TO SOLICIT AND ACCEPT BRIBES:

The ex-governor faces two counts of bribery conspiracy, which, like the extortion conspiracy counts, have to do with accusations that Blagojevich plotted with others. One count is linked to the alleged shakedown of racetrack owner Johnston and the other with the Senate seat.

There's a maximum five-year prison sentence on each bribery conspiracy count.