Rod Blagojevich found guilty on only 1 of 24 counts

After deliberating for two weeks, a federal jury today convicted Rod Blagojevich (upper photo) of only one of the 24 counts against him -- lying to the FBI -- and announced it was deadlocked on the other 23 counts.

A defiant Blagojevich said, "We have a prosecutor who has wasted and wanted to spend tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to take me away from my family and my home."

Blagojevich's attorney, Sam Adam Jr. implored reporters to ask U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald (lower photo) one question: "Why are we spending $25 to $30 million on a retrial when they couldn't prove it the first time?"

Prosecutors, he said, "have to ask themselves, 'Is this worth it?' "

Blagojevich's other attorney, Sam Adam Sr., personally lashed out at Fitzgerald.

"This guy Fitzgerald is a master at indicting people for noncriminal activity," Adam Sr. said. "This guy is nuts."

After losing on 23 out of the 24 charges, conventional wisdom would say Patrick Fitzgerald would back off but he plans to re-try the Blagojevich brothers.

One wonders if Fitzgerald plans to keep prosecuting until he finds a sympathetic jury.

Link