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Blagojevich Convicted on 17 Corruption Charges

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was convicted Monday of 17 of 20 charges in the corruption case against him, including that he tried to sell or trade the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama, the Associated Press reported.

The verdicts came in a retrial against Blagojevich, who was arrested in December 2008 and impeached by the Illinois Legislature a month later. The jury in the first trial deadlocked on all but one charge. It convicted him of lying to the FBI, and the former governor faces up to five years for that conviction.

Jurors informed U.S. District Judge James Zagel on Monday that they had reached a decision on 18 of 20 counts and were deadlocked on the other two after nine days of deliberation. The jury found Blagojevich not guilty of one charge: soliciting bribes in the alleged shakedown of a road-building executive.

A status hearing for sentencing was set for Aug. 1.

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