Blagojevich tells devastated daughters to ‘stay strong’
Patti Blagojevich, left, speaks to the media along with daughters Annie, center, and Amy after the resentencing of her husband on Aug. 9, 2016, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.
A crestfallen Rod Blagojevich put on a brave face for his daughters Annie and Amy on Tuesday, telling them to “stay strong” after a federal judge refused to reduce his 14-year prison sentence for public corruption.
In a quiet moment after the courtroom had cleared, court staff allowed the former Illinois governor a minute to talk to his sobbing girls and his wife, Patti, via videoconference.
“I love you,” he told the girls, “It’s all going to be OK, OK?”
Blagojevich had hung his head as U.S. District Judge James Zagel announced no change in his sentence, while his older daughter, Amy, 20, first rolled her eyes then furiously shook her head as both daughters burst into tears.
But when staff swiveled a big-screen TV and camera around after the hearing so Blagojevich — 1,000 miles away in a federal prison camp in Englewood, Colo. — and his family in the courtroom could speak to each other face-to-face for the last time before Blagojevich begins serving the final 9 1/2 years of his sentence, the governor forced his features into his trademark grin.
“I heard what you said,” he told the girls, who had both delivered impassioned speeches in a doomed attempt to get Zagel to reduce their father’s sentence. “Thank you, you looked so nice.”
The show of fatherly concern prompted a delighted giggle from younger daughter Annie, 13.
But Amy was so furious when the judge left the bench that she was overheard saying of Zagel, “He stole my childhood!”
Wearing gray jail scrubs several shades darker than his almost white hair, Blagojevich had earlier told the court that he has been determined to keep his spirits up behind bars for his family.
“If I can’t be strong, then I can’t expect them to be strong too,” he told Zagel. “I told them that times of trouble and disaster don’t have to be the end of things; they can be the beginning of trying to make amends.”
The family has visited the Englewood prison more than 20 times, Patti Blagojevich said.
Blagojevich’s videoconferenced pleas for mercy and his conversation with his family were both complicated by a poor connection that constantly rearranged his face on the screen as a Picasso-esque blur of pixels.
The technical difficulties were of particular frustration to courtroom artists attempting to capture Blagojevich’s silver hairdo.
“How are we supposed to draw that!” one was heard muttering.
Twitter @kimjnews
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
