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Blagojevich Jury Deliberations: Day Three

The jury now wants transcripts of the entire trial, and the judge has agreed, although they will have to ask for them by witness name.

Rod Blagojevich objected, Robert Blagojevich and the Government did not.

The Judge has also denied Rod Blagojevich's last motion for mistrial based on closing arguments. [More...]

Blago also filed another objection to the jury instructions on Tuesday. From Blago's motion, available on PACER:

The government‟s instructions, of which a significant number were non-pattern, were one-sided statements of the law that are misleading for the jury. The court overruled objections made by the defense. In some instances, not only did the court overrule a defense objection to an instruction being given, but edited the instruction to make the problem with the instruction even more egregious. One example of this is government instruction number 48. When first proposed, it read, “The term “anything of value” includes money, property, and employment.” After a defense objection to this instruction, the court, sua sponte, changed the instruction to read, “The term “anything of value” includes money, property, and prospective employment.” Adding the „prospective‟ language is unnecessary, and catered to the facts of this case in an effort to aid the prosecution in securing a conviction. Defense counsel strenuously objects to this ruling and the overall prejudicial pattern of rulings by the court.

The conensus among media twitterers right now is there will be no verdict today.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Hmmm..... (none / 0) (#1)
    by jbindc on Fri Jul 30, 2010 at 02:07:12 PM EST
    Seems like they want the prosecutor's closing arguments and the judge said "NO".

    Early in their second day of deliberations, jurors in the ex-governor's trial sent out a note from the jury room Thursday morning.

    Their request: a transcript of the prosecution's closing argument.

    The request will be denied, U.S. District Judge James Zagel said in court shortly afterward, because closing arguments are not evidence.

    The note was enough to make the three prosecutors on the case look at one another and laugh. Blagojevich's defense team also opposed the request.

    Still, Zagel said he understood why the jury might want the transcript.

    "What the government largely gave them at certain points in its closing was a roadmap," the judge said.



    that was yesterday (none / 0) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Jul 30, 2010 at 03:20:38 PM EST
    I wrote it up here.

    Parent
    what the heck is the ground? (none / 0) (#3)
    by nyrias on Sat Jul 31, 2010 at 08:05:39 PM EST
    How the defense is objecting to the jury's desire to refresh their memory of what has been said in the trial?

    They want decisions to be made based on faulty memory? Geez. What is next?

    Does anyone actually want the jury to make a decision based on ALL THE INFORMATION as opposed to what make their client looks good?