Impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich has asked a judge to cancel his April 20 retrial and sentence him right away on the conviction from his first trial.
A motion filed early Wednesday in U.S. District Court doesn't concede any guilt, but cites Blagojevich's mounting money woes, saying federal budget funds were exhausted in February and the former governor's lawyers haven't been paid for pretrial work.
Read the motion here.
"Should this motion be granted, and preparation for retrial is no longer required, funds for the second trial would no longer be necessary," the motion states.
And the funds needed for the retrial would be "hefty." Unlike the first trial, funded by a Blagojevich campaign fund, money for the second trial is coming from a federal budget.
"A second prosecution of this case is an irresponsible use of taxpayer funds in light of the current economic crisis and Blagojevich’s imminent sentencing on the conviction from the first trial," the motion states.
Blagojevich was convicted for lying to the FBI, one of 24 counts against him.
The retrial would look at the deadlock charges which include whether or not Blagojevich tried to sell or trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's old U.S. Senate seat for a top job or campaign cash.
Wednesday's filing says Blagojevich "maintains his innocence on every charge," including the conviction of lying to the FBI. Still, the motion acknowledges Blagojevich's conviction after the first trial and says, "he must be sentenced on that conviction."
The former governor faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for the count.
Rod Blagojevich's PR representative Glenn Selig took to Twitter Wednesday morning to describe local response to the motion: "Media outside gov's chicago home. Please remember they have kids!"
