Ryan's lawyers make their case for bail
The U.S. government made its case Monday to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing in writing that former Gov. George Ryan should go to prison Wednesday as scheduled.
Not to be outdone, Ryan's lawyers fired back with their own written reply within hours, arguing the government's filing was riddled with errors.
Ryan was convicted last year of racketeering and fraud, and has so far stayed out of prison while pursuing his appeals. He has one last plea for bond before U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, asking that he remain free while he appeals his conviction before the U.S. Supreme Court.
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In its 32-page filing, the U.S. Solicitor General's office, which handles Supreme Court arguments for the U.S. Attorney's Office, argued that Ryan's attorneys were grasping at straws and distorting the court record to try to keep their client out of prison.
One of Ryan's arguments is that jurors, who were questioned during the trial about their past criminal records, became scared that -- unless they delivered a guilty verdict -- prosecutors might turn on them for lying during jury selection.
The government noted there was no indication of such a fear by jurors during trial. The one juror who described herself as "scared" at being questioned said she was nervous about being in a roomful of lawyers, not that she feared prosecution, the government argued. She compared the atmosphere to that of a job interview, not a police interrogation, government lawyers said.
Defense attorneys noted they had raised the fear issue during the trial, and encouraged the court to review that issue, as well as issues U.S. Appellate Court Justice Richard Posner raised in his opinion -- issued last month -- that Ryan deserved a new trial.
Unless Stevens allows bond for Ryan -- something most legal experts do not expect -- he will be forced to report to prison by 5 p.m. Wednesday.