Lawyers Worry Blagojevich TV Role Will Taint Jury

Prosecutors are worried that a planned television appearance by Rod Blagojevich, the indicted former governor of Illinois, may prejudice the potential pool of jurors for his trial on corruption charges scheduled for June. Although Blagojevich has appeared on many television talk shows and recently published his memoir, his plan to appear with Donald Trump on the NBC reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice" sent prosecutors to court on Monday, to seek limits on what Blagojevich might say on the show. Prosecutors said they were concerned about possibly prejudicing potential jurors watching the show next March, just two months before his scheduled trial. Defense lawyers countered that Blagojevich, who has pleaded not guilty to 16 charges, had a right to speak his mind and that a reality show was not a likely venue for jury prejudice to occur.