CHICAGO, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The juror who doubted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's guilt in his corruption trial said she "could never live with myself" if she voted to convict.
JoAnn Chiakulas said she stuck to her beliefs that Blagojevich and his brother's actions to fill President Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat weren't criminal so she could not find them guilty, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
"I could never live with myself if I went along with the rest of the jury," Chiakulas told the Tribune in her first media interview since the trial ended. "I didn't believe it was the correct vote for me."
The jury deliberated on the corruption charges for 14 days and, in the end, convicted Rod Blagojevich of one count of lying to the FBI. The panel was split on the 23 other counts, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial and the government to promise a retrial of the ex-governor but not his brother, Robert.
Chiakulas said she had no allegiance to Blagojevich or his family, despite reports that her ex-husband donated to Blagojevich's gubernatorial campaign 30 years after they divorced and questioned her impartiality because she was a state public health employee who retired before Blagojevich took office.
She told the Tribune she knew Blagojevich had been arrested and impeached, but she tuned out his pre-trial television appearances.
"I wasn't impressed with his shenanigans," she said.
Chiakulas said she thought Blagojevich's taped statements on the Senate vacancy were so scattered-brained that his actions couldn't be a criminal conspiracy. But her vote of "not guilty" didn't mean she found him innocent, the juror said.
"I thought he was narcissistic," she said. "I thought he was all over the place. I thought he was just rambling."
Other jurors told the Tribune Chiakulas was yelled at by some jury members and was told her reasoning wasn't sound.
"I can't explain how badly I felt," Chiakulas said. "I didn't sleep at night. I thought about it on the train (from her home to the courthouse in Chicago). I wanted to make sure my reasonable doubt was reasonable."
