CHICAGO — The federal judge presiding over Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial said Friday that opening statements might come as early as Tuesday and refused to delay them for even one day so the former Illinois governor could attend his daughter’s grammar-school graduation.
Tears welled in the eyes of Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, after U.S. District Judge James Zagel rejected the one-day delay request. But the judge did say he would shoot for opening statements earlier in the day Tuesday so the couple might be able to attend graduation.
Zagel questioned 59 potential jurors over the first two days of the trial and dropped 20 of them Friday. He was expected to question about 30 more Monday and whittle the final panel down to 12 jurors plus an unspecified number of alternates Tuesday morning.
