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Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 10:22:29 AM EST
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Verdicts: George Ryan and codefendant Larry Warner Found Guilty on All Counts. Reporters are saying that the Court didn't read each individual verdict in the public session. The jury was polled.
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Update: Defense lawyers will give press conference in a few minutes, Patrick Fitzgerald will give hold a press conference sometime after that.

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The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of former Illinois Governor George Ryan. It will be announced in a few minutes. You can listen in here to local station on verdict watch. Hat tip to Arch Pundit who has been following the trial. Check back for updates. From the Chicago Tribune:

The jury deliberated for 10 days before revealing on the eleventh day it had reached its decision, ending the state's biggest political corruption trial in decades.
The decision came on the jury's second attempt to reach a verdict, with two alternates brought in after the judge dismissed two jurors eight days into the original deliberations.

My view:

Governor George Ryan is a courageous hero. Saving the life of an innocent man is far more profound an act of justice than any act of bribery or political misconduct in office can be considered an act of injustice. We don't care what happened with taxes and driver's licenses in Illinois. We care about saving the lives of these innocent and wrongfully convicted men.

Our past coverage of the trial is here.

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    Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial | 10 comments (10 topical)
    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 10:34:56 AM EST
    Now Fitz can get back to Rove, Hadley et al. Indictments by Friday?

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#3)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 10:59:01 AM EST
    Oh, and sorry to seem cold and unfeeling about the convictions. I agree that Ryan is a mensch for giving all those death row reprieves. I have not been following this case. I do not believe fot a second that his actions had anything to do with his indictment, or politics. He was did the right thing from his heart and had the power to to it. Phillipine President has just done the same:
    Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the death sentence would be commuted to life in prison for everyone on death row. Her justice minister said the government would commute all future death sentences as well.
    link

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#4)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:27:35 AM EST
    Wow. Ten days to a guilty verdict? It's pretty unusual for long deliberations to go that way, isn't it TL?

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:44:16 AM EST
    Using Ryan's death penalty views to justify his corrupt abuse of his office is like voting for Bush because of his abortion or gay marriage views in spite HIS corrupt abuse of HIS office. Do the ends justify the means? I thought the ultimate arbiter around here was the rule of law. But ... moving on to "end" that I'm interested in, from the point of view of legal workload, will this free up Fitz to pursue the Plame investigation or will Ryan's promised appeal have the opposite effect?

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:45:19 AM EST
    Posted by Squeaky April 17, 2006 11:34 AM
    Now Fitz can get back to Rove, Hadley et al. Indictments by Friday?
    If there's a God.

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#7)
    by Che's Lounge on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 04:12:00 PM EST
    Unfortunate this is.

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 05:56:19 PM EST
    Despite this conviction, Ryan is a hero for commuting the death sentences.

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#9)
    by Peter G on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 06:02:55 PM EST
    Q-in-B: Yes, 10 days is a long time. But remember, when the alternates were subbed in (which itself may be a big issue on appeal) the jury was required to disregard all prior discussion and start its deliberations over. The alternates, if not dismissed at the outset, have to stand by during deliberations; they do not participate.

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 07:01:23 AM EST
    In my personal George Ryan equation, having followed this story for years, one praise-worthy act (commuting death row sentences) does not equal massive corruption. I hope he gets 20 years in jail (though, highly unlikely of course).

    Re: Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial (none / 0) (#11)
    by squeaky on Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 07:37:46 PM EST
    It is interesting, as someone recently pointed out, that 99% of the 'press' has made no reference the fact that he is a Republican. His corruption scheme fits the general republican pattern that we are seeing a lot of these days. It is despicable greed. Ryan can join his pals in the pen. There is room for contradiction in Gov. Ryan's case. He also did a good thing.

    Guilty Verdicts in Ex. Gov. George Ryan Trial | 10 comments (10 topical)