The wife of imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has said she hopes her husband will win his freedom and that he could return home to rejoin her and their two school-aged daughters.
Patti Blagojevich spoke Friday to reporters after attending a Chicago hearing to hear oral arguments in her husband's appeal of his corruption conviction.
Federal judges in Chicago are now weighing the appeal. His lawyers went to court Friday to argue that the former governor who was sentenced to 14 years for corruption only engaged in legal ``political horse trading.'' But a prosecutor says Blagojevich sought favors for personal profit. The hearing lasted an hour.
Convicts typically aren't permitted to attend such hearings and the two-term governor wasn't present. He remains in a Colorado prison serving a 14-year sentence. He turned 57 on Dec. 10.
Patti Blagojevich says the family has ``missed so many birthdays and holidays'' together. And she suggested the sense of loss was even greater coming up on a ``second Christmas without'' her husband at home.