Blago: A Swing and a Miss

A hung jury on 23 of the 24 counts, and a conviction on lying to an FBI agent:

The jury is finally in on Rod Blagojevich — and the verdict is decidedly undecided.

A federal jury of six men and six women just returned a split verdict against the former governor, convicting him on only one of the 24 criminal corruption counts he faced.

Verdict reached: Blagojevich brothers arrive in court The Blago blog: Latest updates Complete coverage of the Blagojevich trial

The governor was found guilty of giving a false statement to federal agents.

In a courthouse where prosecutors win more than 90 percent of the time and after listening to a treasure trove of secretly recorded conversations, the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision on the other 23 counts.

So, the lesson here is that maybe US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is not all that, which I kind of figured when all he got out of Plamegate was Scooter Libby lying to federal officers (funny similarity there).

Actually, there is a broader lesson: Don't talk to law enforcement if you think that there is the vaguest possibility that you are a target, even minor misstatements get thrown into the mix.

FWIW, I don;t think that Rahm will testify at the inevitable retrial, there is simply no "there" there.

I still cannot figure out how the prosecution screwed the pooch this badly, but I haven't followed the minutiae, and most of what I have heard have been prosecution statements, so I won't 2^ndguess the jury.