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Ex-Gov. Ryan’s appeal filed for full court to hear
By Michael Tarm
Associated Press
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CHICAGO — Former Gov. George Ryan on Tuesday formally asked all 11 actively serving members of a federal appeals court to review his racketeering and fraud conviction, one week after three judges on the court rejected his appeal.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer’s dismissal of two jurors and their replacement with alternates after eight days of deliberations makes a review necessary, Ryan’s attorneys said in a petition filed with the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“No jury trial is perfect — to be sure,’’ the petition said. “But perhaps none in this Circuit or elsewhere has ever been as deeply and fundamentally flawed as this.’’

‘Raft of misconduct’

Ryan’s petition for what is called an “en banc’’ hearing also cited “a raft of other misconduct,’’ including “an astonishing effort by jurors to force the removal of a defense juror with whom they disagreed.’’

“If the constitutional rights to a fair trial before an impartial jury do not require reversal in this case then there will never be a case where those fundamental guarantees require a mistrial,’’ the petition said.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald did not immediately return a telephone call left after business hours by The Associated Press.

The court turned down Ryan’s appeal last week in a 2-1 split decision.

“The fact that the trial may not have been picture perfect is, in itself, nothing unusual,’’ Judge Diane Wood wrote. “The evidence supporting the jury’s verdict was overwhelming.’’

Ryan’s supporters have acknowledged en banc hearings are rarely granted, but they were encouraged by dissenting Judge Michael Kanne, who wrote that calling the trial less than perfect was “a whopping understatement.’’

After last week’s decision, federal prosecutors asked Pallmeyer to enforce an order to make Ryan report to prison within 72 hours to start his 6 1/2-year sentence. But later the same day, the appeals court stayed the deadline and said Ryan could remain free on bond while his attorneys try for the new hearing.

The snowy haired, husky-voiced Ryan was convicted of steering state contracts to political friends such as businessman Larry Warner in exchange for benefits ranging from free vacations in Jamaica to a free golf bag. Warner was also found guilty at the trial and the appeals court also upheld his conviction.

Ryan also was accused of killing an investigation of bribes paid in exchange for driver’s licenses and using state money and employees to wage his political campaigns. The eight-year investigation began after six children in one family were killed in a highway disaster involving a truck driver whose Illinois license allegedly had been purchased with a bribe.

Ryan was secretary of state at the time.

Jury deliberations at the close of Ryan’s trial were contentious and members of the panel bickered sharply.

Some jurors signed a letter to Pallmeyer, complaining that one panel member, Evelyn Ezell, refused to negotiate. After eight days of deliberations it was found that Ezell and another member of the jury, Robert Pavlick, had omitted from their questionnaires encounters with police.

Ryan’s lawyers claimed in their motion Tuesday that Pallmeyer’s dismissal of the jurors was unprecedented.

“This is a case of exceptional importance,’’ it said. “For the first time in the history of American jurisprudence, a federal trial court has been permitted to reconfigure a jury’s composition after eight days of tumultuous deliberations and extensive jury misconduct.’’

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Reader comments on this story - 2 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Dear Accounts Payable Fidel Castro Cuba wrote on Aug 29, 2007 8:35 AM:

" Enclosed you will find a bill for your Buddy George to cover court costs. Please leave 600 million $ dollars worth of Gold Doubloons in a pirates chest buried in a sand trap on the twelfth hole at the Sydney R. Marovitz Golf Course, 3600 N. Recreation Drive. Regards Illinois business owner "

reader wrote on Aug 29, 2007 6:57 AM:

" Maybe he wants to see if there is someone he can buy. "
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