Prosecutors to drop some charges against Blagojevich

BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter

Prosecutors in the Rod Blagojevich corruption case said today they will move to throw out racketeering counts against the former governor because they’re “duplicative,” and to help streamline the case.

All the underlying conduct in those counts are charged in other counts, however.

They also moved to dismiss a fraud count.

The move came after jurors in Blagojevich’s first trial complained they were confused by the case.

While Blagojevich lawyers called the potentially-dropped charges a good thing, they say it doesn’t amount to much, however.

“It doesn’t change much for us,” attorney Sheldon Sorosky said. “Every wrong is still there, nothing has changed.”