CHICAGO — There was no escape for Rod Blagojevich the second time around. The former Illinois governor was convicted in a retrial Monday on a wide range of corruption charges, including trying to sell President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

And for once, Blagojevich could barely speak.

Driven from office by the scandal that made him a national punch line, he now faces a significant prison term that experts said could be 10 to 15 years.

It was a bitter defeat for the man who rode his talkative everyman image to two terms as governor and insisted that hours of FBI wiretap recordings were just the ramblings of a politician who liked to think out loud.

But after the verdict, it was a quieter Blagojevich who stepped before a forest of microphones and cameras and spoke for barely 30 seconds, his eyes red, his face drawn and frowning.

“Well, among the many lessons I’ve learned from this whole experience is to try to speak a little bit less, so I’m going to keep my remarks kind of short,” he said.

Blagojevich spent 2 1/2 years professing his innocence on reality TV shows and the witness stand. During his first trial, a federal jury convicted him of only the least serious charge and deadlocked on the others.

There was no such reprieve this time. After nine days of deliberations over three weeks, the jury found him guilty of 17 of 20 charges, making him the second straight Illinois governor convicted of corruption.

After hearing the verdict, Blagojevich turned to defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky and asked, “What happened?” His wife, Patti, slumped against her brother, then rushed into her husband’s arms.

The 54-year-old Democrat, who has been free on bond since shortly after his arrest, said only that he was disappointed and stunned by the verdict. He said the couple wanted “to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and then try to sort things out.” His two daughters are 8 and 14.

The case exploded into scandal when Blagojevich was awakened by federal agents on Dec. 9, 2008, at his Chicago home and was led away in handcuffs.

Federal prosecutors had been investigating his administration for years, and some of his closest cronies had already been convicted.

Blagojevich was swiftly impeached and removed from office.

The verdict provided affirmation to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the nation’s most prominent prosecutors, who, after the governor’s arrest, had condemned Blagojevich’s dealings as a “political corruption crime spree.”

“The jury sent a loud and clear message that Governor Blagojevich committed very serious crimes shaking down a children’s hospital, trying to sell a Senate seat and demanding cash campaign contributions in advance before signing a bill,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald pledged to retry the governor after the first jury failed to reach a decision on all but the least serious of 24 charges against him.

Blagojevich also faces up to five additional years in prison for his previous conviction of lying to the FBI.

He was acquitted of soliciting bribes in the alleged shakedown of a road-building executive. The jury deadlocked on two charges of attempted extortion related to that executive and funding for a school.