6 years after ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ Blagojevich will appear in court via TV

It’s been six years since former Gov. Rod Blagojevich had his bizarre turn on Donald Trump’s show “Celebrity Apprentice” while awaiting trial on sweeping corruption charges.

Now, Blagojevich is about to be on TV once again — albeit under much different circumstances.

When he is resentenced in two weeks, Blagojevich will appear in a Chicago courtroom via a closed-circuit television feed instead of being brought from federal prison in suburban Denver, where he’s been serving a 14-year sentence.

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The move was the recommendation of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which said the logistics of moving Blagojevich through the system — including a stop at the prison system’s hub in Oklahoma City — would be difficult and mean long days in transit, according to Leonard Goodman, Blagojevich’s lawyer.

“He would’ve come on what they call Con Air,” Goodman told reporters Wednesday after a brief status hearing before U.S. District Judge James Zagel. “They said it could’ve taken two weeks to get him here.”

Goodman said Blagojevich’s preference was to appear before Zagel in person for his Aug. 9 resentencing. In fact, he asked to be furloughed by the Bureau of Prisons so he could make his own arrangements to get to Chicago, but the warden denied the request.

A Bureau of Prisons spokesman declined to comment specifically on the Blagojevich case but said decisions on furloughs are made on a case-by-case basis by prison wardens.

In court Wednesday, Zagel approved the teleconference arrangement. The judge also asked whether the notoriously gregarious Blagojevich would have anything to say at the hearing.

“I’m sure that he will wish to speak,” said Goodman, who added that he also was considering calling relatives to testify.

Now 59, Blagojevich has not been seen by the public since he turned to wave to a horde of media outside the Littleton, Colo., facility in March 2012 and walked through the front gates.

The abrupt disappearance from the spotlight by Blagojevich, known for his well-coiffed mane of dark hair, led to rampant speculation about his changing appearance.

Shortly after he reported to prison, his longtime barber told the Tribune that Blagojevich had been coloring his hair for years and would quickly go gray in prison, where inmates are banned from using dyes of any kind.

Last year, a tabloid news outlet published photographs purporting to show a white-haired Blagojevich relaxing at a desk in the prison wearing glasses and tattered sweat pants.

Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 of misusing his powers as governor in an array of wrongdoing. At this point, he is not scheduled to be released from prison until May 2024.

A federal appeals court last year dismissed five counts against the former governor, but that still left him convicted on 13 counts. The three-judge panel ordered a resentencing but called the evidence against Blagojevich “overwhelming” and made it clear that Zagel’s original sentence was not out of bounds. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Blagojevich’s appeal.

Goodman has asked Zagel to resentence Blagojevich to as little as five years, a move that could have him released from custody almost immediately.

He wrote in a court filing earlier this week that prosecutors have failed to acknowledge that the appellate court threw out some of the more serious charges in Blagojevich’s case — including the “centerpiece” allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after his election as president in 2008.

Goodman also said the ex-governor’s “record as an exemplary inmate” should be considered.

Prosecutors have recommended that Zagel give Blagojevich the same 14-year sentence.

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Earlier this month, Goodman submitted nearly 150 letters from Blagojevich’s fellow inmates describing his busy schedule, which includes exercising, working in the law library and teaching history to inmates seeking high school equivalency diplomas.

Blagojevich also formed a prison band called the Jailhouse Rockers that played 21 songs at a GED graduation ceremony and a Fourth of July celebration a few years ago before breaking up because their lead guitarist was released, according to Goodman.

On Wednesday, Goodman was asked about the band’s repertoire. He said they played some Elvis, of course. But their favorite tune?

“Bad Moon Rising,” he said.

Meisner writes for the Chicago Tribune

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