Blagojevich hit with 14-year prison sentence

A contrite former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in federal prison, capping one of the state’s worst political scandals and humbling a controversial and defiant figure who rode into office as a champion of reform.

The sentence handed Blagojevich was the second-longest ever delivered in federal court in Chicago for a public corruption case. But U.S. District Judge James Zagel made it clear that the former governor’s position and the relentless history of corruption in Illinois demanded a harsh message.

“When it is the governor who goes bad, the fabric of Illinois is torn and disfigured and not easily repaired,” the judge lectured Blagojevich. “You did that damage.”

Blagojevich hit with 14-year prison sentence