The count on which Rod Blagojevich was found guilty, lying to the FBI, carries a potential prison sentence of five years.  He has, as you may know, vowed to fight that conviction, even as he faces a retrial on the 23 charges on which the jury was hung.

The possibility of future imprisonment has to be daunting; it’s hard to imagine the dread, the stress, the anger that it generates.  But in a sense, a type of punishment of the Blagojevich brothers has already begun.  Robert Blagojevich alluded to it yesterday.  He said that for someone who is used to planning every phase of his life, this ordeal has been surreal and draining–like a “slow bleed.”

I can’t imagine having a criminal trial hanging over my head, much less a second one.  But just about everyone has gone through a period of life when they have had to live with a major, draining uncertainty–about a job, health, a loved one, a relationship, their home.  Living with that kind of uncertainty can take a major toll on your mental health and the stress can eat away at you.

In a sense, both Rod and Robert have been serving a type of sentence since they were charged–one defined, not by the walls of a prison cell, but by their own anxiety.  And there’s no time off for good behavior.