Oct 31, 2007 10:32 pm US/Central
Appeals Court Denies Motion To Keep Ryan Free
U.S. Attorney Wants Ryan To Report To Prison
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Former Gov. George Ryan
CBS
Former Gov. George Ryan is hoping a U.S. Supreme Court justice will allow him to stay out of prison while he appeals his corruption conviction. An appellate court turned him down Wednesday and Ryan is due to start serving his 6 ½ year sentence next week.
As CBS 2's Katie McCall reports, a great deal of legal maneuvering is going on to try to keep Ryan out of prison.
Trick-or treaters got the same answer CBS 2 did at Ryan's Kankakee home Wednesday night – none. Late Wednesday afternoon, Ryan's attorney, former Gov. Jim Ryan asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to extend Ryan's bail while he appeals his case to the Supreme Court. The move came just hours after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied in a 2-1 ruling a previous motion to extend bail.
Prosecutors have said former Ryan has a very slim chance that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his appeal. Thompson admits it is a legal Hail Mary.
"We have is a heavy burden in the Supreme Court of asking for the continuation of bail," Ryan said.
But he said he is encouraged by the one dissenting judge, Michael Kanne who echoed what Thompson has said of Ryan's corruption trial all along.
"The trial was riddled with errors that ultimately rendered the proceedings unfair and unjust," Kanne said in his dissenting opinion.
"This is a question of whether Gov. Ryan, like any American, got a fair jury trial," Thompson said.
Former prosecutor Patrick Collins disagrees.
"What I think Judge Pallmeyer did was bend over backwards to ensure a fair trial," Collins said.
Last week, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Ryan's request bid for a fresh appeal of his racketeering and fraud conviction in a 6-3 decision. The judges wrote they "agree that the evidence of the defendant's guilt was overwhelming" at the end of the racketeering and corruption trial that ended in April 2006.
Thompson says he will know by Monday if the bail motion is granted. He says that happened for an Illinois defendant just once in the last three decades.
Ryan has already been assigned a number in the federal prison system. He and co-defendant Larry Warner were told they must surrender by Nov. 7 if their appeals failed. Right now Ryan is scheduled to report to a facility in Duluth, Minn. He has asked to be reassigned to a facility in Oxford, Wisconsin where he says it will be easier for his wife and family to visit him.
Even if the bail request is denied, Ryan will still ask the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction from prison. Even if the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, Ryan may not be done with his appeals. CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller says his lawyers could file another series of appeals – not on legal grounds, but on constitutional grounds.
CBS 2's Katie McCall Contributed to this report.cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages
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