Judge declines to issue a gag order at Blagojevich’s corruption trial
By Mike Robinson, APWednesday, June 16, 2010
Judge says he won’t issue Blagojevich gag order
CHICAGO — The judge presiding over Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial says he won’t be issuing a gag order on the former Illinois governor.
U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel said Wednesday an order barring the former governor and his attorneys from discussing the case in the media would be a last resort.
Prosecutors had cited comments Blagojevich made that his longtime friend and former chief of staff, Alonzo Monk, had been lying on the stand.
Zagel suggested that attorneys try to reach an agreement over the weekend on what they could and couldn’t say in public and report back to him.
Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to scheming to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat and other offenses.
