Apr 17, 2006 12:28 pm US/Central
Illinois Ex-Governor Found Guilty Of Fraud
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who drew international praise when he commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois' death row, was convicted of racketeering and fraud Monday in a corruption scandal that ended his political career.
Ryan, 72, faces up to 20 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy, the most serious of the charges in the 22-count indictment.
The jury found him guilty on all charges.
The decision ends the state's biggest political corruption trial in decades, and draws a conclusion on the long career of a politician who gained international fame as a death penalty critic but left office in 2003 amid a widespread corruption scandal.
Ryan, an old-school politician known as a masterful deal maker, was elected secretary of state in 1990, served two four-year terms and was elected governor in 1998. But he retired after just one term as the so-called bribes-for-licenses scandal grew and his support in opinion polls took a swan dive.
"He was basically unelectable by the time he made the decision not to run," said University of Illinois-Springfield political scientist Kent Redfield.
Just before leaving office, Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 Illinois death row inmates to life and pardoned four men convicted of murder, saying evidence against them was unconvincing. He had earlier put a hold on state executions, citing a flawed system that sent 13 wrongfully convicted men to death row.
That made Ryan a hero to capital punishment critics — some of whom are now standing by his side.
At the core of the charge was an allegation that Ryan gave lobbyist Larry Warner all but free reign to see that leases and contracts in the secretary of state's office went to Warner's clients.
Millions of dollars for computers, license plate stickers, laminated strips for vehicle titles and a digital drivers licensing system were awarded this way, according to prosecutors.
Warner, in turn, funneled two loans totaling $145,000, one of which was never paid back, into the floundering business of a Ryan family member, prosecutors claim. They say that Warner pumped $6,000 more into a Ryan family business and paid more than $3,000 in Ryan family wedding expenses while furnishing other unspecified money and gifts to his political benefactor.
Neither man took the stand during their trial, but both repeatedly said nothing they did was illegal.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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