From his house to...the big house?
He was sentenced to prison more than 400 days ago. Now ex-Gov. George Ryan could finally report in about two weeks. But even after his appeal was denied Thursday, he might be able to avoid jail again -- for a while
Former Gov. George Ryan moved a step closer Thursday to finally serving the 6½-year prison sentence he has dodged for more than a year.
The federal appellate court in Chicago voted 6-3 not to reconsider Ryan's conviction for using his office to shower gifts and government contracts on family and friends.
(Sun-Times file)
But the Kankakee Republican is still not quite ready to report to prison.
He will ask the appellate court to grant him one more bail extension on top of the two it already gave him while he appeals his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court -- his final hope.
Ryan's lawyer, former Gov. James R. Thompson, knows the Supreme Court takes just 1.9 percent of all criminal cases brought before it.
So why should the appellate court keep letting Ryan delay the start of his prison sentence?
Well, they've already granted Ryan extensions twice when the odds were against it, so why not do it one more time, Thompson said.
And the three judges who dissented -- led by renowned jurist Richard A. Posner -- wrote that Ryan's conviction was a "travesty" in which jurors repeatedly questioned about errors on their juror forms might have been scared to vote against prosecutors.
Thompson hopes that will catch the Supreme Court's attention.
At the same time they file their request for an extension of his bail, Ryan's attorneys will appear before another judge to propose a Nov. 7 date for Ryan to report to prison if the appellate court opts against more bail, Thompson said.
They won't know until a few days before Ryan's sentence would start where he would serve it. His first choice is in Oxford, Wis. But he could also be sent to Duluth, Minn., or somewhere else.
Ryan's co-defendant, Lawrence Warner, convicted of parlaying his friendship with Ryan into a series of lucrative contracts, has a firmer idea which prison he's headed to, saying bemusedly Thursday, "So, sometime next month I'll be enjoying the view in Colorado." He too is appealing to the Supreme Court.
At the Ryan family home in Kankakee, Lura Lynn Ryan politely declined comment Thursday morning.
George Ryan told Thompson he had reporters camped out on his lawn. So Thompson told Ryan to send his son out to tell them there would be no comment.
"I told him to keep fighting and he said, 'I will keep fighting,' " Thompson said.
In Tennessee, the Rev. Scott and Janet Willis, who lost six children in a fiery crash linked to Ryan's license-for-bribes scandal, also declined comment on Thursday's ruling. Scott Willis said he needed time to read it and think about it.
In the southwest suburbs, Ed Hammer, a former Secretary of State inspector demoted by Ryan for investigating corruption in the office, said he was "excited and relieved" that the appellate court left Ryan's conviction intact.
Earlier this month, Hammer, who is writing a book about his experience, said he went to Ryan's home.
"I went up and rang his doorbell," Hammer said. "He answered the door. He actually invited me in. He did not remember who I was even though I testified at his trial.
"I asked him for an apology for myself and my partner Russ Sonneveld. His response real quickly was, 'Apology for what?' I told him I felt he hurt us, several Secretary of State employees, the Willis family and others. He said he had nothing to do with that.
"I just wanted to see if at this point in his life, facing federal prison, if he would have a change of heart and apologize to those he had hurt . . .
"But as I was leaving, all he said was, 'I got screwed.' "
Patrick Collins, the former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, said he always remained confident the conviction would stand.
"I trust the process," Collins said, adding, "There were gross breaches of the public trust by Mr. Ryan."
Thompson continued Thursday to call the case "unprecedented in the history of American jurisprudence" even though prosecutors found two cases in the past year in other states in which jurors were replaced after deliberations were started.
In neither of those cases were jurors questioned about whether they lied on their juror forms and offered immunity from prosecution to answer questions from the judge, Thompson said.
"The government's attempt to immunize jurors itself suggests the proceedings were broken beyond repair," Posner wrote.
Thompson said he does not expect to seek a presidential pardon for Ryan if all other options fail.
Contributing: Frank Main