[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official site] on Wednesday refused to rehear Governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption case. In 2013 Blagojevich was found guilty on 18 charges of corruption in his second trial and ultimately sentenced to a 14-year prison term [JURIST reports]. In 2013, Blagojevich filed an appeal [text, PDF] with the Seventh Circuit challenging Blagojevich’s conviction and sentencing. The appeal alleges that there was a problem with a member of the jury who showed bias against Blagojevich, as well as with the actions of the judge. It is reported [Chicago Tribune report] that the three judge panel all voted to deny the rehearing with no other active circuit judges requesting a vote. Blagojevich’s attorney state in regards to the Seventh Circuit’s decision, “puts every public official, who must raise campaign funds to stay in office and be effective, at the mercy of an ambitious or politically motivated federal prosecutor.” Blagojevich’s legal team plans on filing an appeal to the recent order to the US Supreme Court in the coming days which has seen by critics to be a long shot.

Lawyers first filed notice of appeal [JURIST report] in June 2011. Blagojevich was initially found guilty [JURIST report] in 2010 of making false statements to the FBI, but the jury remained deadlocked on 23 additional charges. The prosecutors dropped some of the charges [JURIST report] to simplify the case for retrial, including charges for racketeering. In January 2009 the Illinois State Senate voted unanimously [JURIST report] to convict Blagojevich of abuse of power and remove him from office. Blagojevich and his former chief of staff John Harris were initially arrested [JURIST report] in December 2008 on corruption charges, including allegations that they conspired to sell the Senate seat left vacant by US President Barack Obama.