Reply #15: There was no state prosecution because it wasn't a state crime

[autorank]

Go figure :hug:

"How much is public debasement worth? For Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor convicted of a made-up federal crime, the answer is about two years of his life. As Illinois U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s triumphal press release – issued the same day as the sentencing, December 7th – notes, before Blago finally stopped asserting that he had done nothing illegal, he was facing a sentence likely in the range of 15.7 to 19.6 or more years under applicable guidelines, and he could even have received up to life if the judge got really irked. But his 11th hour epiphany that he had in fact broken the federal law supposedly making state and local political deal-making a federal crime – in this case, seeking personal and political benefits while performing his gubernatorial duties—lowered his sentencing range such that he will have to spend “only” 14 years behind bars."

Harvey Silergate
http://www.forbes.com/sites/harveysilverglate/2011/12/09/blago-sentenced-he-joins-the-justice-departments-smoke-and-mirrors-show/