By Ed Hammer
On Tuesday December 21, 2010, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, in a 59-page opinion announced her decision on former Governor George Ryan’s motion to vacate certain charges of his 2006 conviction of public corruption. There were also motions to reduce his sentence and/or release him from federal prison on bond.
Appealing to Pallmeyer’s sense of humanity, Ryan’s lawyers also had argued that Lura Lynn, Ryan’s wife is terminally ill, and he should be released so they could spend their last month’s together.
In her written order Pallmeyer succinctly denied all requests thereby requiring the convicted felon Ryan to serve out the remaining 3 1/2 years of his sentence. He is scheduled to be released on July 4, 2013. Ryan is 76 years old.
The motions were filed by former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson and former Assistant United States Attorney Dan Webb. They specifically argued that based on the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision on “honest services” law, which essentially declared that in certain cases the law was vague and therefore unconstitutional.
Applying the same reasoning to some of the charges in Ryan’s case would logically then mean vacating those charges.
The Supreme Court’s ruling was based on Skilling v. United States, were Jeffrey Skilling was convicted of defrauding Enron’s stockholders, hence depriving them of their intangible right to “honest services.”
No law unambiguously delineates what honest services Skilling was obligated to provide. In contrast, Ryan was an elected official. His conviction – which includes acts of steering contracts, leases and other government benefits for private gain – clearly falls into the solid core of honest services fraud.
The government’s closing arguments at Ryan’s trial stated, “The benefits included free vacations, loans, gifts, campaign contributions, as well as lobbying money that Ryan assigned or directed to his buddies. In short, Ryan sold his office. He might as well have put up a ‘for sale’ sign on the office.”
In Pallmeyer’s latest decision she states, “Ryan clearly understood ‘what conduct was prohibited’ and could not have been surprised that he was subject to prosecution. Ryan’s efforts to conceal his conduct from public scrutiny themselves demonstrate he knew it was improper.”
Ryan was also convicted of obstructing justice or concealing his crimes. Pallmeyer addresses this in her opinion, stating that “The Government argues that this evidence was relevant to establishing his intent to use money from the Citizens for Ryan campaign for his personal use, and his failure to pay taxes on that money.”
In June of 1995, in a conspiracy with his inspector general, Dean Bauer, and his chief of staff, Scott Fawell, Ryan dissolved the Department of Inspector General, stating in a memo that they would rid the IG of the investigators who were “trouble.”
Russ Sonneveld and I were those investigators. The “trouble” they were referring to was that we uncovered a pattern of bribe money from commercial driver’s license applicants being funneled to the Citizens for Ryan campaign fund.
One of those applicants was Ricardo Guzman, the truck driver who caused the accident resulting in the death of Scott and Janet Willis’s six children in November 1994.
Bauer ordered us to close that investigation.
In the foreword to my book, One Hundred Percent Guilty, Scott Willis writes, “Putting an unsafe and illegal driver at the wheel of a semi-truck in exchange for political contribution is criminal. To quash the incendiary evidence is unconscionable.”
At the end of her order, Pallmeyer says, “His (Ryan) conduct has exacted a stiff penalty not only for himself but also for his family . . . Ryan’s motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence is denied. Ryan’s motion to set bail is also denied.”
George Ryan’s son, Homer, from their home in Kankakee, called Pallmeyer “heartless and cold.”
In actuality, Pallmeyer is a federal judge highly respected by attorneys from both sides. She is respected for her sense of fairness and humanity. In these last few days of a decade of distrust for politicians and cynicism toward the system, I am undoubtedly certain that justice was served. Hopefully, lessons were learned.
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See also:
* George Ryan’s Park Bench
* George Ryan’s Dogs and Ponies
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Comments welcome.
Posted on December 22, 2010