SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Supreme Court will now decide whether George Ryan is left with no pension or collects nearly $70,000 annually for his years of government service that weren't tied to the corruption conviction that landed him in federal prison.

A state pension board stripped Ryan of any pension benefits but an appeals court overturned part of that decision and said Ryan is entitled to a pension for the years not tied to his conviction.

The state appealed and the arguments played out Wednesday before the Illinois Supreme Court justices.

Former Gov. Jim Thompson is again representing Ryan. He argued that each time someone is elected to office, it's a new membership in the pension system. Therefore Ryan's early years of service are still valid grounds for granting a pension, which would now amount to roughly $5,700 a month, $68,400 annually. Had he not run afoul of the law, Ryan, who is 75, would now be collecting nearly $197,000 annually.

Thompson said Ryan's been stripped of his reputation, his pension and will sit in prison until the age of 80 while his aging wife sits at home in Kankakee with no income.

"He and his wife have nothing left except his partial pension," Thompson told the court.

"For 24 years, as a member of the Kankakee County Board, as a legislator and as lieutenant governor, George Ryan gave honest and important service to the people of Illinois. He is entitled to have his pension for those years," Thompson said.

But Jan Hughes, an attorney representing the pension system, said Ryan betrayed the public at large regardless of what specific office he held and should be held accountable. She argued that the pension laws refer to when a "member" has committed felonies and should not be divided down to which office which member held when.

She noted that the contributions to that pension system do not come from the General Assembly budget or the lieutenant governor's budget. They come from the state and as such, Ryan's entire service is at issue, not a segment of it.

"It makes sense," Hughes said of the pension board's decision to eliminate Ryan's pension. "The citizens of Illinois, whose trust Ryan betrayed, do not have to fund any part of his pension."

Justices offered little insight on how they might rule on what is believed to be the first case of its kind before them.

In questioning Thompson, Justice Robert Thomas noted that the pension law says someone convicted shall collect "none" of the pension. "None means none," he said.

The court has no immediate deadline for deciding the case.

Because of the legal challenges, Ryan has not collected any pension funds since his conviction. However, when the state pension board voted to strip him of his entire retirement, he was refunded $235,508 - the amount he'd contributed from his paychecks over the decades.

Thompson said Ryan has not spent any of it because if he wins the lawsuit he'll have to refund a portion to cover the contributions from the years that would be reinstated.

On a personal note, Thompson said he's kept in touch with Ryan in person, by phone and via e-mail.

"His state of mind? Well, if you used to be governor of the state of Illinois and now you're 75 sitting the in the penitentiary with years to go, your state of mind probably wouldn't be very good," Thompson said.

He said Ryan worries about his wife and continues to hope President Obama will commute his sentence and let him out early. A petition seeking mercy was not acted upon by President Bush and remains on file in Washington, D.C.

Thompson acknowledged that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest while Ryan's request was pending "pretty much doomed our chances."

Thompson has represented Ryan throughout his legal turmoil. Ryan once served as Thompson's lieutenant governor.