Posted on 09/06/2006 1:59:53 PM PDT by RWR8189
Former Gov. George Ryan was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison today following his historic conviction for steering lucrative state business to cronies in return for vacations, gifts and other benefits for himself and his family.
"People of this state expected better, and I let them down," Ryan said in a statement delivered to the courtroom before the sentencing.
Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 8 to 10 years.
But defense attorneys argued before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer that even a sentence of up to 30 months could deprive Ryan, 72, of the last healthy years of his life. Ryan is said to be suffering from Crohn's disease and diabetes.
Ryan was ordered to surrender to begin serving his sentence Jan. 4.
Pallmeyer postponed ruling on a defense request for Ryan to remain free on bond while he appeals his conviction, a process that could take months. Prosecutors asked for additional time to respond in writing.
Ryan's sentence represented the stiffest doled out in Operation Safe Road, the eight-year federal probe that exposed rampant bribery in state driver's license facilities and then brought down Ryan's inner circle and finally Ryan.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I think of him every time I renew my license plates. IIRC, any checks sent to Powell's office that said "Secretary of State Paul Powell" went to the Illinois coffers, but any checks that just had "Paul Powell" were cashed and deposited in his shoe boxes at home. He died before he got around to finding a better hiding place.
An honest mistake. He probably just figured they were gifts, ya know?
Lyin' Ryan gets to spend 6 1/2 years at Club Fed in Oxford, Wisconsin. Meanwhile the 6 Willis kids get to spend eternity in Box City.
And the POS also flooded the general prison population with many convicts who deserved to be executed. He got off easy.
Gee! Is that a fact?
That really too freaking bad...
I guess he'll have to be satisfied with all the "good years" he had while screwing the public in his "civil service" position, huh?
The crooked sonuvabitch shouldn't have done the crime, if he didn't want to do the time..
Semper Fi
Thanks for posting, just heard this on the radio ..
curious.. do you know if he will have to serve most of sentence , 85% , before being eligible for parole.. it's been so long since case started, I don't recall if that is the case or not.
ap article
Ex-Ill. gov. gets 6 1/2 years for graft
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060906/ap_on_re_us/governor_s_trial
MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO - Former Gov. George Ryan, who was acclaimed by capital punishment foes for suspending executions in Illinois and emptying out death row, was sentenced Wednesday to 6 1/2 years behind bars in the corruption scandal that ruined his political career.
"People of this state expected better, and I let them down," the 72-year-old Ryan said in court before hearing his sentence.
Federal prosecutors had asked for eight to 10 years in prison. Defense attorneys argued that even 2 1/2 years would deprive Ryan of the last healthy years of his life.
"Government leaders have an obligation to stand as the example. Mr. Ryan failed to meet that standard," U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer said.
Ryan was convicted in April of racketeering conspiracy, fraud and other offenses for taking payoffs from political insiders in exchange for state business while he was Illinois secretary of state from 1991 to 1999 and governor for four years after that. The verdict capped Illinois' biggest political corruption trial in decades.
Prosecutors said that Ryan doled out big-money contracts and leases to his longtime friend, businessman-lobbyist Larry Warner, and other insiders and in received such things as Caribbean vacations and a golf bag in return. Ryan also used state money and state workers for his campaigns, the government alleged.
Defense attorneys pleaded for mercy, citing Ryan's advanced age, his health problems — he is plagued by high cholesterol and the intestinal illnesses Crohn's disease, diverticulitis — and the humiliation he has already suffered.
"The public shaming that Ryan has endured combined with the impending loss of his pension greatly lessens the need for the court to punish through the sentencing process," Ryan's lawyers said in court papers. They said Ryan "has been publicly and universally humiliated."
The scandal that led to Ryan's downfall began over a decade ago with a fiery van crash in Wisconsin that killed six children. The 1994 wreck exposed a scheme inside the Illinois secretary of state's office in which truck drivers obtained licenses for bribes.
The probe expanded to other corruption under Ryan. Seventy-nine former state officials, lobbyists, truck drivers and others have been charged. Seventy-five have been convicted, including Ryan's longtime top aide, Scott Fawell, a star witness at Ryan's trial.
In 2000, Ryan, as governor, declared a moratorium on executions in Illinois after 13 death row inmates were found to have been wrongly convicted. Then, days before he left office in 2003, he emptied out death row, commuting the sentences of all 167 inmates to life in prison. He declared that the state's criminal justice system was "haunted by the demon of error."
Even as he faced scandal back home, Ryan accepted speaking invitations across the country and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his criticism of the death penalty.
With prosecutors closing in on him, Ryan decided not to run for re-election in 2002. He was indicted after leaving office.
Tim McVeigh blew up a building with a rental truck you can drive with a passenger car license.
What could a terrorist blow up with a 53 foot trailer of explosives he drives with a license he bought from Ryan?
Not enough. This POS should die in prison.
He deserved more. RINO POS!
this scumbag commuted some unimaginably bad people on death row whose guilt was not questionable(admittedly there some people on death row who didn't belong there but they were released without his input anyway)-i hope he ends his days in prison
These are two of the people whose death sentences were thrown out. They are being housed, clothed, and fed at the expense of Illinois taxpayers for the rest of their lives, while enjoying free medical and dental care.
Fedell Caffey & Jacqueline Williams
Caffey and Williams decided they wanted a baby. So they stabbed to death a pregnant woman, Debra Evans, in her Addison apartment and cut her nearly full-term fetus from her body, according to prosecutors. To eliminate witnesses, they also murdered Evans' 10-year-old daughter, Samantha, and 8-year-old son, Joshua. Another child, Jordan, was spared in the 1995 murder--children under the age of 2 aren't likely to be good witnesses. And the newborn boy also survived. Fortunately, Jordan's grandfather, Sam Evans, says Jordan has no recollection today of the horrors he witnessed.
http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/illinois.htm
Not enought time. He should do five years just for what he did to all those families with his death row amnesty.
No relation, it's just that you can't swing a cat in Illinois politics without hitting somebaody named Ryan.
I had him tangled up with some of those other guys....(DIMS)
Well.... there is a strong resemblance.... LOL
Illinois is soooooooooooooo much better off thanks to "leadership" Ryan provided in promoting pro-abortion, pro-gay, pro-tax-and-spend, pro-enviromental wacko, pro-Castro, and of course, anti-death penalty "values" during his term. (Remember when the guy freed EVERY murderer on death row....gosh darn, it would have been sooooo much worse if a Dem had been in office, right?)
The crook's just been thrown in prison for handing out driver's licenses to illegal aliens in exchange for bribes, but it's all OKAY... cuz he has an "R" next to his name. The ILGOP should be proud to call George Ryan one of their own.
Not to worry, George Ryan's wonderful tenure in office from 1999-2003 will "bring the buisnesses back" and DELIVER Illinois to the GOP any day now. After all, he endorsed BUSH back in 2000 when he was Governor (Gore then won Illinois easily), so that automatically makes him better than ANY Democrat.
Right guys? ;-)
The Illinois Republican party is a mess. What's your point?
The judge ought to assign ol' George to be bunkmates with those two. I'm sure their nice "innocent" folks who were railroaded by the racist "system".
If they didn't learn from George Ryan, they'll never learn. Anyone who thinks a candidate with a "R" next to their name is automatically better than a Democrat should take George Ryan off our hands. Let him govern THEIR state.
If they didn't learn from George Ryan, they'll never learn. Anyone who thinks a candidate with a "R" next to their name is automatically better than a Democrat should take George Ryan off our hands. Let him govern THEIR state.
No, I don't think they're better off.
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