Lawyers for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich have asked for another hearing before the same three-judge panel that affirmed his 14-year prison sentence last month. Blagojevich's attorney petitioned the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday to rehear his case.
That judicial panel overturned five of Blagojevich's original 18 criminal convictions in 2015. That decision led to a resentencing hearing last August where the Democrat received the same sentence he had been given in 2011. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear from him early last year.
If the appeals court again refuses to hear the case, Blagojevich's only hope for an early release is clemency from President Donald Trump. Trump called Blagojevich's conviction "just a lot of political stuff" before his initial sentencing.
