CHICAGO – Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s defense attorneys have asked a federal judge to throw U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and all his assistants off the fraud and bribery case against him.

Chief defense counsel Edward Genson said in a motion Thursday that the news conference Fitzgerald held in announcing the charges was so filled with prejudicial publicity that the prosecutor should bow out.

The full text of the motion wasn’t immediately available because it had been filed under seal. But it was described by U.S. District

Court Chief Judge James Holderman, who ordered it unsealed, and by Blagojevich attorney Sheldon Sorosky.

Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn had no immediate comment.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Heman Clark is being remembered by former colleagues as a respected man who improved North Carolina during his life.

The former prosecutor, Superior Court judge and state Cabinet secretary died Friday at the age of 93 at his Raleigh home. His widow told The News & Observer of Raleigh he died after having two strokes recently.

Then-Gov. Luther Hodges appointed Clark as a judge in 1958. Nearly 25 years later, Gov. Jim Hunt named him crime control and public safety secretary. Hunt said Sunday that Clark helped make “North Carolina a safer and fairer state.”

Clark also served as Cumberland County attorney and chairman of the county Democratic Party.

The L. Harold Poole Funeral Service and Crematory says Clark’s memorial service is set for Wednesday at White Memorial Presbyterian Church.

North Carolina has three U.S. attorneys, one each in the Western, Middle and Eastern judicial districts. But the Eastern District, which covers 44 counties, is the most important in state corruption cases because it includes the capital, Raleigh.

Although Obama will actually name the three prosecutors, Sen.-elect Kay Hagan will have an unofficial but potentially influential voice in picking them.