Apr 17, 2006 11:00 pm US/Central
What's Next For George Ryan?
Defense Team Will File Motion For New Trial
by Suzanne Le Mignot
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
What's next for the former governor? The verdict is far from the end of his legal road.
He has already said he'll appeal, but CBS 2's Suzanne LeMignot reports that he has other legal option.
The first thing former Gov. George Ryan's defense team will do is file a motion for a new trial. This must be done in the next seven days.
"99.99 percent of defendants lose those. They're rarely granted, motions for a new trial, because the judge is basically saying, 'I made a mistake,'" CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said.
If the motion for a new trial fails, the next step is a sentencing hearing. It's set for Aug. 4. The judge will use the federal sentencing guidelines to figure out how many years Ryan would get behind bars. The 72-year-old's sentences could be made a bit longer for violating the public's trust.
"Based upon all the factors that are in the federal sentencing guidelines, a guess would be somewhere between nine and 12 years would be a fair estimate of what his sentence would be," Miller said.
Good behavior aside, under federal law, Ryan would have to serve 85 percent of this time.
Once he receives a sentence, he can appeal it before the seventh circuit court of appeals.
"They will render an opinion, either affirming the conviction, denying the appeal or perhaps sending it back for a new trial," Miller said.
That appeal process can take several months.
As far as where Ryan would do his time, there are at least two possibilities in the form of minimum security camps in Oxford, Wisconsin, or Sandstone, Minnesota. At both, there are no bars or walls, but it is no country club either. Ryan would have to get up and do work each day and be on a set schedule. That work could include cleaning detail.
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