Blagojevich media circus renewed for another season

Legal experts expect Rod Blagojevich to spend the coming weeks on a full-out media blitz proclaiming his innocence - a tactic some say might have worked to keep him from a conviction.

Already taking his message to the masses on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and selling autographs at last weekend's Comic-Con in Rosemont, Blagojevich certainly seems to think his strategy will help plant a seed in the minds of those who'll become jurors in his retrial on corruption charges.

The question is, if the personal p.r. campaign did affect jurors in the first trial, what can be done differently the next time around?

"Very little," said Andrew Stoltmann, a Barrington Hills attorney and legal commentator. "Judge (James) Zagel could gag the parties, but I don't think he will do that. Gagging the parties tends to be an extreme measure, and Zagel does not seem to like to go that route."

Stoltmann also emphasized that, while the federal prosecutors on the case have been their typically taciturn selves at trial, the media game is a two-way street and they have their own resources, such as U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. "Remember, Mr. Fitzgerald tried to do the same thing," Stoltmann said. "Fitzgerald's press conference the day of the arrest and the inflammatory comments he made about Lincoln rolling over in his grave was clearly designed to make headlines and influence jurors as well."

"We are in the middle of an all-out press battle to win over the jurors who are reading the papers and watching the news," Stoltmann added. "I expect the rhetoric to ratchet up dramatically in the next four to six months."

One thing that could change is jury selection. Zagel ran a notoriously no-nonsense trial, but seemed to almost rush through that process. "Zagel was very cavalier," said DePaul University law professor Leonard Cavise. "If he keeps the case, I don't expect anything to change the next time - depending on who the new defense counsel are and how hard they fight. Many judges just place an arbitrary deadline on length of jury selection and, if it's not done, then just put 12 in the box."

"I would expect a much stronger effort in weeding out biases for and against the governor in the future," Stoltmann said. "The onion has to be peeled down deep, so to speak. Many times jurors won't come right out and say, 'I saw Blagojevich on "The View" getting his hair messed up and denying his guilt.' The judge has to dig deeper than that and ask the in-depth questions necessary to weed out those issues."

Yet, if that means a more exhaustive process throughout, that only plays to Blagojevich defense attorney Sam Adam Jr.'s claims in the media that a retrial would cost $30 million - a figure dismissed by most legal experts, even as it weighs on the public conscience. "Everybody who is minimizing the cost does so by saying that the prosecutors, judge, court personnel, law enforcement are there anyway so there's no cost to that - which is ridiculous," Cavise said. "That time would have been available to other cases which now somebody else has to do. Or people sit in jail. Or crimes go unsolved. That is probably the most damaging cost of all."

There's no indication whether the lone holdout juror who remained loyal to his cause heard or heeded Blagojevich's many statements before the trial.

"I don't think Blago was successful in influencing the jury pool," Cavise said. "The holdout just wanted to see more proof."

Yet Stoltmann begged to differ. "There is no question Blagojevich was successful in his efforts in influencing a juror or even two," he said. "He ran an old-fashioned campaign, and it was successful. A defense lawyer's motto is, 'It only takes one,' and Blagojevich found his juror. It truly was a masterful performance as he got his message out without the risk of being cross-examined while under oath. I don't recall any defendant ever going on that sort of a press junket before. Blagojevich was laughed and sneered at, but it worked."

A hearing is scheduled Thursday in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge James Zagel to determine where the case goes from here. If everything runs true to form, Blagojevich will use it as another opportunity to proclaim his innocence before and after, while his attorneys label the prosecution frivolous and expensive.