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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Verdict reached: Blagojevich brothers arrive in court


A verdict in the two-month long corruption case against Rod Blagojevich and his brother will be read within the hour.

The Blagojevich brothers arrived at the federal courthouse shortly before 4 p.m., summoned along with their lawyers.

"Judge Zagel has received a verdict in the Blagojevich matter," announced Michael W.Dobbins, his court clerk, in an e-mail.

Awaiting the verdict in the courtroom, Blagojevich sat looking at lawyers, alternately clasping his hands and drumming his fingers. His brother, Robert, leaned over to his wife, Julie, put his hands on hers and whispered something reassuring. She nodded.

Also sitting in the courtroom to hear the verdict were Chicago FBI chief Rob Grant and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. The six alternate jurors who were dismissed at the beginning of the deliberations were seated in the courtroom, opposite the jury box. They had previously asked to be present for the verdict's reading.

The developments comes on the 14th day of deliberations in the case and after jurors signaled this morning that some discord remained on the 12-member panel.

Jurors today asked for a copy of the oath they took when they were seated as well as instructions on how to fill out their verdict form if they can't reach a unanimous decision on a certain count or counts.

In all, jurors had to decide evidence in 24 counts against Rod Blagojevich, 53, and four against his brother, Robert, 55, after weighing dozens of tapes and the testimony of nearly 30 prosecution witnesses. But last week they indicated they couldn't agree on all but two of the counts.

Read more about this developing story on The Blago Blog.

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