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Blagojevich Holdout Juror Explains Vote
CHICAGO (AP) -- The juror who was the lone holdout on some counts at former Governor Rod Blagojevich's political corruption trial says she had a responsibility to follow her conscience and she stands by her vote.

In her first media interview since the trial ended, JoAnn Chiakulas told the Chicago Tribune that she would not have been able to live with herself if she went along with the rest of the jury.

The jury last week deadlocked on 23 of 24 counts against Blagojevich and convicted him of lying to the FBI.

Chiakulas says the vote was 11-1 on some counts because she didn't believe he committed a crime when it came to filling Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. She says she found Blagojevich's recorded statements on the Senate vacancy to be so disorganized that it didn't reach the level of a criminal conspiracy.<

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
08 27 10 by Newsroom
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