Judge Grants Prosecutors More Time To Indict Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich

January 6, 2009 9:54 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A judge granted two requests from federal prosecutors on Monday, extending the one month period they previously had to indict Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and allowing the limited release of four secret phone recordings ahead of a possible turnover of the wiretaps to the special panel investigating whether to impeach Blagojevich.

U.S. District Judge James Holderman granted prosecutors a 90-month extension to seek an indictment of the governor, who is accused in a criminal complaint of corruption charges including trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.

Under the criminal complaint, prosecutors had a month to make an indictment. That Jan. 7 deadline has now been moved to April 7.

In a separate hearing on Monday afternoon, Holderman ordered the limited release of four recorded telephone conversations of Blagojevich. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had filed a motion last week seeking court approval to turn over edited versions of the wiretaps to the state impeachment committee. The tapes, according to prosecutors,show Blagojevich attempting to raise $100,000 in campaign contributions in return for his signing into law of a bill directing a portion of casino revenues to the horse racing industry.

Holderman set a Thursday hearing to rule on whether to turn over the tapes. Blagojevich's lawyers have been allowed access to the recordings in the meantime, and have until late Wednesday afternoon to raise any objections to their release.

Blagojevich was arrested on Dec. 9 at his North Side home. The 52-year-old Democrat had ended 25 years of Republican residence at the state Executive Mansion in 2002 after winning a race against former Gov. George Ryan with a pledge to clean up the corruption that had plagued his predecessor. But Blagojevich' s administration was soon at the center of a corruption investigation amid allegations that it had accepted political contributions from state contractors, a practice dubbed "pay to play."

The Illinois House of Representatives set up a special panel earlier this month to determine if Blagojevich should be ousted from office. The 21-member committee, chaired by state House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a Democrat, held its first hearing on Dec. 16 and is expected to make a recommendation when its inquiry ends mid-January.