Blagojevich to take part in resentencing via video
CHICAGO (AP) - A lawyer for Rod Blagojevich says the imprisoned former Illinois governor has reluctantly decided not to appear in person at his resentencing hearing next month in Chicago.
Attorney Leonard Goodman told a federal judge on Wednesday that Blagojevich will instead participate in the Aug. 9 hearing by video from his prison in Colorado.
Goodman says Blagojevich preferred to attend and could have insisted on it, but that he agreed to rely on a video feed because of the difficult logistics of transferring him to Chicago.
An appeals court ordered the resentencing in 2015, after tossing five of Blagojevich's 18 corruption convictions. The Democrat has served four years of his original 14-year sentence.
Goodman says a prison warden refused to grant Blagojevich a furlough so he could travel himself to Chicago.