So, if the Chicago Tribune was really delving into the pasts of jurors on its own instead of just taking some friendly directions from prosecutors, why did they miss all of these people? From the Sun-Times:

FIVE WHO STAYED

KEVIN L. REIN
48, of unincorporated Glen Ellyn
On March 30, lawyers for Larry Warner argued unsuccessfully for a mistrial because Rein and other jurors failed to disclose arrests. Rein was arrested in 1980 for allegedly striking his pregnant 17-year-old sister in an argument over cats. The state dropped the charges because his sister wouldn’t prosecute. He bought newspapers during the trial, but the court warned jurors against media exposure, the defense said.

CHARLES P. SVYMBERSKY
42, of Westmont
Svymbersky, an alternate, served on the jury after Evelyn Ezell and Robert Pavlick were kicked off. He was listed in Warner’s March 30 mistrial motion. He failed to disclose a 1983 guilty plea for buying a stolen bike in Peoria. He bought newspapers during the trial, the defense said.

JILL DIMARTINO
55, of Itasca
She admitted her daughter, friends and co-workers questioned her about the case after the original deliberations began, according to Warner’s attorneys, who argued those discussions were prejudicial. She stayed on the jury.

SONJA CHAMBERS
38, of Bolingbrook
After the guilty verdict, lawyers for Ryan unsuccessfully sought a mistrial after learning Chambers, the foreperson, was involved in several civil court cases she failed to disclose on her jury form, including a 2004 divorce petition, filings for orders of protection and a lawsuit a furniture business brought against her in 2003. She also was divorced in 1991.

RAUL CASINO
65, of Palos Hills
On March 28, George Ryan’s defense team gave the court records showing Casino was arrested in 1962 on a charge of driving under the influence. The records did not show how the case was resolved. Casino did not disclose the arrest. He stayed on the jury.

And then there’s this very good point at the bottom of the story:

After two more jurors were removed, Ryan’s lawyers sought a mistrial. They argued that jurors believed the feds were investigating their backgrounds and it tainted their deliberations.

“It has now been widely reported on TV and in the newspapers that the U.S. attorney could potentially prosecute jurors for perjury for lying on their questionnaires,” they wrote. Jurors would then vote in favor of the feds for fear of being prosecuted, the defense contended.

As she heard news of other jurors’ problems with the law, Ezell, tossed from the jury because she didn’t disclose her own background, wondered whether she and fellow juror Robert Pavlick, 55, of Buffalo Grove, were targeted. Pavlick, who could not be reached, was dismissed for not disclosing criminal convictions.

“That’s all I can do is wonder. Why did they do that?” said Ezell, charged but not convicted of a crime.

Indeed. [emphasis added]

UPDATE: I’ve noticed a trend in comments, so let me just intervene now. This is not about whether a juror had any run-ins with the law, it’s about whether they disclosed it on their juror forms.

UPDATE 2: Mary Mitchell:

I don’t know whether Chambers, an African-American female, would have been excluded from the jury because of her past involvement with the court system, but the judge and the lawyers had a right to know the truth.

UPDATE 3: So, let me get this straight. Forewoman Chambers didn’t disclose her repeated involvement with the legal system on her jury form, testified under oath that she didn’t talk to “Dennis the drycleaner” while it looks like she might have done so, said at a press conference that there were no pro-Ryan holdouts that she could recall, when there was at least one, now has hired a lawyer and won’t talk to the press, and yet she was still qualified to judge Ryan on perjury charges? I don’t get it.