Blagojevich attorneys want to block all recordings in retrial

Blagojevich attorneys want to block all recordings in retrial
AP File/Charles Rex Arbogast
Blagojevich attorneys want to block all recordings in retrial
AP File/Charles Rex Arbogast

Blagojevich attorneys want to block all recordings in retrial

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Attorneys for Rod Blagojevich are asking the judge in his upcoming corruption retrial to throw out all secret recordings of the former Illinois governor.

In a new court filing, Blagojevich’s attorneys ask that all secretly recorded conversations the FBI has of Blagojevich or his aides not be played in court.

Blagojevich is accused of trying to personally profit by appointing someone to Barack Obama’s former senate seat.

That would mean jurors wouldn’t hear Blagojevich say, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s (expletive deleted) golden.”

Or they wouldn’t hear Blagojevich tell his wife, “I’d like a four-year contract for a million a year, or something. Or 750. Whatever. It’d have to be good.”

Or any other of the hundreds of hours of tapes the FBI has on Blagojevich.

Defense attorneys say in their court filing they weren’t given a fair chance to play the tapes they wanted to play in the first trial - so it’s only fair if no tapes are played. The defense argues there are some gaps in parts of the tapes that could be misleading.

The trial is scheduled to begin in April.