Judge spurns Blagojevich's motion

CHICAGO - A federal judge Monday brushed off a request from former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to cancel his retrial on political-corruption charges, suggesting it amounted to a public relations exercise.

At a pretrial status hearing, Judge James Zagel showed clear disdain for the motion by refusing to even rule on it. Instead, he said it would "vanish into thin air" and "die."

The famously stern judge had said during Blagojevich's first trial that he did not want the high-profile case to descend into theater. His comments Monday signal that he intends to maintain the same tight rein on the retrial.

The motion asked Zagel to cancel the second trial and proceed straight to sentencing Blagojevich, 54, on the lone conviction - lying to the FBI - from his first trial. He faces a prison sentence of up to five years on that conviction.

Jurors in the first trial otherwise deadlocked, including on whether Blagojevich tried to sell or trade an appointment to President Obama's vacated Senate seat. The retrial, at which he faces 20 charges, is set to start April 20.

His request that the retrial be canceled raised eyebrows in legal circles. Many observers said it wrongly presumed that the impeached ex-governor had some leverage or bargaining power on the matter.

Pressed Monday by defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky to rule, Zagel refused and suggested the request was meant primarily for public consumption, "intended for an audience other than the court."

Sorosky later said the defense could push again for a ruling from Zagel, noting how underdogs had prevailed in the NCAA men's basketball tournament this month. "One never knows," he said.