[T]he government avoids any discussion of Mr. Rezko’s faith and family values. The many letters the Court has received leave no doubt that Mr. Rezko is a man of faith, a loyal and devoted husband, a supportive and nurturing father, and an extremely generous and inspiring leader of a large extended family. Certainly these traits speak to Mr. Rezko’s overall character, while the fact that he has such an extensive support network indicates that he will be able to transition back to a productive and law-abiding life after his release.

Team Rezko blast the Government for recommending a sentence twice as long for Rezko as for cooperator Stuart Levine:

While Mr. Rezko generously supported charities and made anonymous monthly donations to fund the operations of his newlyformed church, Levine schemed to steal money from charities. While Mr. Rezko spent hundreds of thousands of his hard-earned dollars to bring relatives to this country, to pay for their education, and to help them purchase their first homes, Levine spent hundreds of thousands of ill-gotten dollars on hard-core illegal drugs. While Mr. Rezko’s home was the social center for his family, relatives, and friends, Levine routinely snuck out of his home to engage in illicit allnight orgies. It is nothing short of unconscionable that the United States government would recommend that Mr. Rezko receive a sentence more than twice as long as Levine’s, purportedly based on a “full analysis” of 3553(a) factors, without ever acknowledging that their respective characters and personal histories are so thoroughly different as to be not at all analogous.

In a footnote to that paragraph:

The evidence at trial showed that in less than four and one-half years, from January 2000 through May 2004, Levine spent over $1.3 million in cash on drugs, drug binges, and other illegal purposes.

Rezko mocks the Government's assertion that Levine would not have been prosecuted under federal drug laws because he was just a user.

In this district, the war on drugs apparently ends when the war on corruption begins. Had the government not been so anxious to minimize the quantities of drugs distributed by Levine, or had it not so readily turned a blind eye to his decades of possession and distribution offenses, Levine certainly could have faced charges that would have triggered mandatory minimum sentences.

Rezko says a sentence of time served would avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities with other co-conspirators. He complains that Lon Monk, who only agreed to cooperate once he found out Rezko was cooperating, received a 24 month sentence.

Monk is necessarily at least as culpable as Rezko for the wrongdoing Blagojevich, [deceased Chris] Kelly, Monk, and Rezko schemed to commit together.

Rezko also points to the Government's hypocrisy in claiming Rezko wasn't a viewed as a potentially valuable witness while keeping him in local jails for 45 months because it might call him as a witness:

Surely the government would not be so callous as to ask a cooperating defendant to go without fresh air, sunlight, and family contact for nearly four years unless it truly valued his cooperation....The government repeatedly represented to this Court, to Judge Zagel, to Mr. Rezko, and to the defendants in the Blagojevich and Cellini cases that it was considering calling Rezko as a witness.

...In an interesting display of chutzpah, the government contacted Defendant’s counsel on November 4, 2011, the day after filing its Sentencing Memorandum, to request Rezko’s cooperation in an investigation of an individual whose name had not come up in any of the prior 29 interview sessions. To his credit, Mr. Rezko agreed to be interviewed despite first learning, on the same day, that the government was seeking an 11-15 year sentence.

On belittling the Government's claim that Rezko's conditions of confinement (described in my prior post here) don't warrant a further reduction because there aren't two classes of jails, one for white collar inmates and one for others:

More fundamentally, Mr. Rezko’s argument is not his conditions are unacceptable to white collar inmates; his argument is that his conditions are unacceptable to any human being....No human being should live for 45 months without a breath of fresh air, a ray of sunlight, or a moment of outdoor exercise. No non-violent inmate should live for years without a hug from his family or a handshake from a friend. That Mr. Rezko has endured these conditions for so long – solely at the request of the government to facilitate his cooperation – must, as a matter of fundamental fairness, be considered as an independent sentencing factor.

In its most recent filing, the Government disputes all of Rezko's allegations, says his conduct was worse and he lied more. It also says it took his conditions of confinement into account in arriving at its 11 to 15 year recommendation.

Under current guidelines, Rezko's range would be life in prison. The Government agreed to use the lower 2003 guidelines because those were the Guidelines used to determine Levine’s sentence. It is giving Rezko something for cooperation and amendable to some reduction for his conditions of confinement.

Rezko has lost 80 pounds since incarcerated, now weighing 154 pounds. Between solitary and being housed with mentally ill inmates, I don't think there's any question he has had it rougher than anyone else. But I have no idea what the judge will do.

Blagojevich gets sentenced December 6.