Lawyers for Blagojevich Push for Lighter Sentence

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is relying on arguments he made at trial to convince the judge to give him a short prison sentence.

Prosecutors are asking for 15 to 20 years.

Using the federal sentencing guidelines, Blagojevich's lawyers calculate that he should do about three and a half years but they're asking for a downward departure from that starting point. However, under the same federal guidelines prosecutors have calculated the starting point at 30 years though they are asking for less.

Lawyers will haggle over those calculations at the governor's sentencing hearing next Tuesday, and Blagojevich's lawyers will be using arguments they tried to sell to jurors. They say Blagojevich wasn't trying to get bribes, but he was just fundraising. They insist he had no intention of doing anything illegal.

Blagojevich's attorneys also say the governor did not have a leadership role in the criminal activity.

"Mr. Blagojevich sought and took advice from people he trusted," Blagojevich's attorneys stated. "Mr. Blagojevich followed rather than led.