CHICAGO — A daughter of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is being bullied after speaking up for her father in court, her mother says.
Amy Blagojevich, 20, had told a judge that she has suffered without her father during a resentencing hearing on Tuesday. Though her words didn't sway the judge, who refused to reduce Rod Blagojevich's sentence, they did catch the attention of people online.
"Amy, unless your father is above the law, it was he who stole your childhood, not the judge!!!" a man wrote to her in a message on Facebook.
The man apparently was referring to a Tribune report revealing that after federal Judge James Zagel declined to reduce the former governor's 14-year sentence on corruption charges and had left the courtroom, Amy Blagojevich said the judge "stole my childhood."
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Patti Blagojevich, Amy's mother, shared a screenshot of the message on Facebook and said people were "cyberbullying" her daughter.
"What kind of person goes out of their way to be so unkind?" Patti Blagojevich asked in a post that has already garnered hundreds of comments.
In emotionally charged pleas, Amy and younger sister, Annie Blagojevich, 13, told the court they speak on the phone with their father every day but can't see him often, and he's missed important life events like graduations.
"I know this kills him," Amy Blagojevich said. "The longer my father is gone, the stranger Annie and I become to him."
The judge acknowledged that the Blagojevich family is hurting when he announced his decision, saying, "I do not doubt that he is a loving father and that his children miss him deeply in his absence.
"But as I said four years ago [at the original sentencing], the fault lies in the governor."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel expressed sympathy for the Blagojeviches Wednesday, saying, "My thoughts are with Patti and the family."
Emanuel spoke of the "tremendous pressure on Patti and the children," adding, "You can see the human toll on that family."
After court Tuesday, Patti Blagojevich told reporters that she was "proud" of her daughters and their statements, but "it wouldn't have made any difference what they did or what anyone said."
"The judge had clearly made up his mind before it even started," she said. "But they went out there because they love their dad, they wanted to do everything they could possibly do to help him."
Rod Blagojevich, his hair now snowy white after four and a half years in prison, also comforted his daughters and thanked them during a private moment after the hearing, according to a report by Kim Janssen of the Tribune's Chicago Inc. column. Blagojevich spoke via closed circuit television from a federal penitentiary Colorado, where he is incarcerated.
"I heard what you said," Rod Blagojevich told his daughters, according to the Tribune. "Thank you. You looked so nice."
Ald. Deb Mell, Patti Blagojevich's sister, told DNAinfo Chicago that her nieces did a "great job" with their statements but she was unhappy someone had messaged Amy. People who do that are "usually coming from a place" of unhappiness, Mell said, and she said she felt bad he felt the "need to hurt people like that."
"I thought they were very eloquent and passionate," Mell said of her nieces. "I'm just sorry my niece, that someone felt like they had to direct message her like that."
Independent of how you feel about the outcome of the hearing this is simply horrible. https://t.co/vG3ZdcGYyc
— Robert Blagojevich (@Rob_Blagojevich) August 10, 2016
A re-tweet from Rod Blagojevich's brother, Robert.
Emanuel said he would not advise President Barack Obama on whether to grant Blagojevich a pardon or commute his sentence before he leaves office.
"I used to weigh in on those decisions," Emanuel said, referring to his time as Obama's chief of staff. "I'm not weighing in on that decision."
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