Judge: Ryan jury seated this week

September 26, 2005 (WLS) -- It has been one week since jury selection got underway in the corruption trial of former governor George Ryan and lawyers from both sides are still working to seat a jury. Ryan is on trial for racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud.

A number of prospective jurors were excused Monday simply because of the financial hardship that a four-month-long trial would present to them. Others were let go for different reasons. One said she couldn't refrain from reading stories about the Ryan trial even though the judge instructed everyone not to do that.

In any case, we are to a point where we have about four dozen potential jurors that will be cut down to 12 with six alternates, and it looks at this point as if opening statements will come on Wednesday.

Of the 100-plus prospective jurors who have been questioned for the trial of George Ryan, a sizable number say they don't pay much attention to politics, don't remember much of Ryan's term as secretary of state and governor, and many have, at best, only vague recollections of his decision on the death penalty.

While the death penalty has no bearing on corruption charges against Ryan, lawyers on both sides want to make sure jurors won't let that issue affect their judgment.

With so many prospective jurors only minimally aware of Ryan and the case against him, it would seem the jury selection would move faster, but that has not been the case in part because both sides are trying to be very thorough in their questioning. And secondly, a lot of would-be jurors just can't afford to take four months out of their lives to serve on a jury.

Prosecutors have won a pretrial victory. They will be allowed to present evidence that George Ryan began carrying "wads of cash" and was quite liberal spending it after becoming secretary of state. Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer says that "evidence that Ryan began carrying large amounts of cash once he became secretary of state and governor may be probative in his involvement in a cash-intensive scheme to defraud." The defense has maintained whatever cash Ryan had he received from legitimate sources and not payoffs for favors.

Ultimately, that issue and many others will be left to a jury to judge, probably somewhere four months down the road.

You can see the ABC7 report by clicking on the video icon above.  You will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to view this video. You can get it FREE by clicking here. NOTE: Video clips will only be available for 5-days from the date they were created. ALSO: Video clips will play in a separate window on Mac OS X machines, you may also see a video help screen.

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•