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Ryan Witness Contradicts FBI's Testimony

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Feb 16, 2006 7:40 pm US/Central

Ryan Witness Contradicts FBI's Testimony

Statements Could Be Enough To Produce Reasonable Doubt

by Mike Flannery
CHICAGO (CBS) ― He's now the U.S. State's Attorney for southern Illinois.

But Edward McNally was in Chicago today because five years ago he represented then-Gov. George Ryan, CBS 2's Mike Flannery reports.

And at a Feb, 2001 meeting in a downtown Chicago hotel, he battled on Ryan's behalf with the very federal prosecutors who are now trying to put Ryan behind bars.

McNally had directly contradicted the sworn testimony of veteran FBI Agent Ray Ruebenson, furthermore telling the jury that he complained to prosecutors in that 2001 meeting that the FBI agent "wasn't taking adequate notes," adding that, "They stared at me and said nothing."

Ruebenson testified weeks ago that when Ryan was asked about taking checks, he flatly denied ever doing it.

McNally today contradicted that, saying Ryan couldn't recall, quoting the governor: "I don't remember what happened yesterday. I'm a pharmacist. I'm 67 years old. That was 3 or 4 years ago."

When McNally departed, Ryan's lawyers called to the stand anti-death penalty activist Mike Farrell, who played a military field doctor on the show, MASH, and who is a big fan of Ryan's decision to clear everyone off Illinois's death row.

"It was very frustrating my being limited in what I could say," Farrell said.

It is count 13 of Ryan's indictment that accuses him of denying he received the checks the government asked him about in 2001.

McNally's compelling and credible contradiction of that today might be enough to produce reasonable doubt in a juror's mind.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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