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* This is the very sort of thing that makes it so difficult to get all weepy for George Ryan today….
In the southwest suburbs, Ed Hammer, a former Secretary of State inspector demoted by Ryan for investigating corruption in the office, said he was “excited and relieved” that the appellate court left Ryan’s conviction intact.
Earlier this month, Hammer, who is writing a book about his experience, said he went to Ryan’s home.
“I went up and rang his doorbell,” Hammer said. “He answered the door. He actually invited me in. He did not remember who I was even though I testified at his trial.
“I asked him for an apology for myself and my partner Russ Sonneveld. His response real quickly was, ‘Apology for what?’ I told him I felt he hurt us, several Secretary of State employees, the Willis family and others. He said he had nothing to do with that.
“I just wanted to see if at this point in his life, facing federal prison, if he would have a change of heart and apologize to those he had hurt . . .
“But as I was leaving, all he said was, ‘I got screwed.’ “
* But if you still have hope for Ryan, here it is…
The three dissenting judges spent about half of their 15-page opinion slamming the length of the trial and what they consider to be U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer’s failure to rein in the proceedings.
“We agree with the panel majority that the evidence of the defendants’ guilt was overwhelming,” Posner wrote with Judges Ann Claire Williams and Michael Kanne. “But guilt no matter how clearly established cannot cancel a criminal defendant’s right to a trial that meets minimum standards of procedural justice.”
The dissent warned that marathon trials scare off many competent jurors. Those left become overwhelmed by the vast amount of evidence, they wrote.
“The longer the trial, the less likely the jury is to be able to render an intelligent verdict,” the opinion said.
The trials should not have gone anywhere near six months, the dissenting judges said. They said that in a “super-long trial,” jurors are more likely to become “bored, impatient, irritated” and to disobey the judge’s instructions.
In legal papers, neither side had put the issue of trial length front and center, but Thursday’s dissent appears to be written “with an eye toward Supreme Court review,” said Joel Bertocchi, a veteran appellate attorney.
* More…
[Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins] pointed out that the trial took as long as it did, in part, because of requests by the defense.
“That’s ridiculous. It was done by (Judge) Pallmeyer because she can’t manage a case,” said [Len Cavise, a DePaul University College of Law professor]. “She just doesn’t know how to say ‘no.’ … There are any number of judges who would have taken those lawyers into chambers and said, ‘Clean up your act.’”
The dissenters seemed to take that view as well.
“Federal trial judges … recognize and discharge a duty of active trial management. … They do not defer abjectly to the lawyers’ preferences regarding length of trial,” they wrote.
* And more stories, compiled by Paul…
* Former Gov. Ryan a step away from prison
* Ryan Jurors generally glad to see conviction upheld
* The three judges who sided with Ryan
* Clout Street: Gov, Mayor react to Ryan decision; other Ryan reactions; more reactions
* Editorial: Jail time for Ryan would end this sad political chapter
* Editorial: For Ryan, no more delay of consequences
Thoughts?
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 8:59 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
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Pallmeyer because she can’t manage a case
Yet another fine Clinton appointment.
Comment by Pat Collins Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:01 am
Pat Collins is right.
It is all the fault of President Clinton.
Comment by Skeeter Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:06 am
The dissenters seemed to take that view as well.
“Federal trial judges … recognize and discharge a duty of active trial management. … They do not defer abjectly to the lawyers’ preferences regarding length of trial,” they wrote.
Pallmeyer has no business being on the federal bench. I am sure the fact that Winston & Strawn, a big Chicago law firm, defended GRyan had no influence on her repeated decisions to “defer abjectly” to whatever objections Big Jim Thompson & crew raised.
Comment by Fire Ron Guenther Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:11 am
All the emotional rhetoric aside, the case does raise some very interesting legal issues that we as a society would benefit from having answered. ie the decisions about letting the Jury decide the case after certain juror erros were found; and the length of the trial.
My bets guess, his bail request is denied and he begins to serve the term. The Supreme’s take the case to adress important legal issues capable of coming up in other cases.
Comment by Ghost Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:17 am
For a guy with his mitts on the handle of a screwdriver for so many years and was never loath to use it, Ryan probably would not recognize the opposite end.
For him now, life is an Allen Wrench.
Comment by Truthful James Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:20 am
He did get screwed, and I’m sure he’s not worried about not receiving any sympathy from the press that hounded him.
Oh my God, why are people blaming Clinton for this? Move on right wing.
Comment by Beckett Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:30 am
Ryan got himself in trouble for being old-school. What he got convicted for was things that were probably done for many years and would certainly be considered borderline crimes. Now some of these things have caught up to him.
Comment by Levois Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:32 am
Just goes to show you how delusional George Ryan truly is, he “got screwed”. Unbelievable!
Comment by Almost Nobel Prize Winner Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:39 am
Ed Hammer might possibly be the biggest idiot alive if he thought George Ryan was going to come clean to him. He sole reason for going to see George is that he is writing a book. The trip to K3 probably added another chapter to his great American novel. My guess is he will sell all of two copies of his book. Of course, if his parents are no longer alive it might not sell any.
Comment by Jaded Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 9:49 am
I don’t know Hammer, but do know Russ Sonneveld, having worked with him when he was in two other state agencies, including the State Police. He truly was a public servant decidated to the greater good; and he did get screwed by Ryan and Bauer because he tried to do the right thing by opening an investigation into how the truck driver in the Willis tragedy got his license when he couldn’t speak English. If he did he might have understood the people trying to tell him something was falling off his truck and six Willis children might be alive. I agree Ryan will never apologize. In order to be sorry you have to have a conscience and I don’t believe he does.
Comment by fed up dem Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 10:19 am
I have no doubt that Ryan is guilty of the things he is charged with. However, there is also no doubt that he was tried and found guilty in the media long before he ever faced a jury. I read that 100+ page inditement against him. You know what–all the ’spectacular and attention grabbing’ stuff dug up by the media amounted to about 2 pages worth. Most of it was pretty mundane stuff-like steering contracts to his friends and getting kickbacks for stuff like the paper car titles are printed on, real estate leases, computers provided to the SOS, laminating of drivers licensces and so forth. Pretty uninteresting and dull. The media didn’t want to talk about that, but rather seized on the 1 or 2 pages of material that would give them big headlines to report and would draw a paying audience. It all comes down to money for the media too–doesn’t it?
Also, one thing that killed Ryan was the fact that he headed one of the most visible offices in Illinois. If he were a crooked State Treasurer of crooked Comptroller, nobody would care. Its the fact that everybody has stood in those lines at the SOS office, everybody has to pay money to them to renew your licensce, renew your registration and so on. The whole licensce for bribes thing really blew up on him. Even though Ryan could never be proven personally culpable for selling CDLs, he certainly allowed an atomosphere and culture to exist in his office that allowed that behavior to occur. Because he was the top dog there, and someone needed to be blamed, I feel that in some ways he has unfairly had to take that blame for the whole scandal. Again, this scandal appeals to peoples emotions. Who hasn’t been on the expressway scared to death of the 18-wheeler 2 feet behind him doing 70mph. Now one has to question whether the person behind the wheel is qualified or paid a bribe to get his licensce.
The terrible accident that took the lives of the Willis family also provided emotional tinder that ‘cooked’ Ryan long before he ever faced the jury. In a small way I can personally relate to that kind of accident, because I suffered a flat tire and $1,200 in damage to my car due to a brake drum falling off a rig, shattering on the pavement and a piece of it getting lodged under my front passenger side axel. It took out 6 or 7 cars. It occured at dawn and all I saw were sparks and heard the noises. One guy had his oil pan punctured. Thankfully nobody had their gas tank punctured and physical damage to vehicles was all that happened. When I think about what happened to the Willeses I am greatful that something worse didn’t happen to me. The truck kept right on going and to this day, I’m sure the driver is completely unaware that anything ever happenned. I guess what I am saying is that the tragic deaths, really added fire to what was a somewhat mundane accident that occurs more times than most of us would like to admait.
That tragedy, along with the media hype really did George Ryan in, so in a way he was ’screwed’. The media needed a way to make a 99% mundane and run of the mill scandal ’sexy’ to boost ratings and sell newspapers plain and simple. The vast preponderence of evidence does show that Ryan was indeed a corrupt politician. In my opinion, the media fed into his presumed guilt by playing up small segment of the case that would appeal to the citizens, while neglecting the vast majority of the case that most would find pretty mundane and boring.
just my $.02 for what it is worth.
train111
Comment by train111 Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 10:27 am
I’ve never seen so much attention given to the minority, dissenters’ view. The dissenters couldn’t carry the day, that’s why they were in the minority.
People also seem to forget that the U.S. Constitution guarantees a FAIR trial, not a perfect one.
The 7th Circuit has now looked at this, and now agreed that Ryan had a fair trial. Any time now the U.S. Supreme Ct will issue probably a one sentence statement essentially agreeing with that conclusion, when they refuse to hear the case.
Our prisons and jails are full of poor people who could only dream of having the full resources of a top notch firm like Winston & Strawn in their corner at their trials, and for free.
George Ryan had the best legal defense that past political patronage and favors could get for free, and that almost no one else could buy, even if they wanted to.
It’s time for George to pack his mittens and warm socks and start heading up to Duluth. The only people deserving our sympathy are those making up what’s left of the Willis family.
Comment by GOP'er Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 10:32 am
Ryan didn’t get screwed.
We did when we was gave him the responsibilities of his first elected public office. Then we kept on getting screwed by a man who shouldn’t have been given those responsibilities in the first place.
Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 10:40 am
“I’ve never seen so much attention given to the minority, dissenters’ view. The dissenters couldn’t carry the day, that’s why they were in the minority.”
The reason is that the dissent was very harsh and was authored by Judge Posner — currently holds the title for “Greatest Judge Who Will Never Serve on the Supreme Court.”
Anything Judge Posner says must carry weight and I suspect the U.S. Sup. Ct. will give the petition on this case more of a review than the ordinary case get.
Comment by Skeeter Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 11:03 am
Well, Rich, I wouldn’t want you to get all weepy, so let me give you a chance to go firmly on the record. Do you believe that George Ryan knowingly and intentionally broke criminal laws, and/or encouraged or allowed other people who worked for him to do so, for the purposes of enriching himself at the expense of the citizens of this State? It’s a pretty simple yes or no question, and has nothing at all to do with what the jury thought, or the fact that he’s been convicted, or anything else. Just personally what you think.
Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 11:06 am
Ryan was “old-school” to the extent that he did not do things much differently than Edgar or Thompson. But times have changed, and what was tolerated then is no longer tolerated.
I think it’s amusing that Posner pontificated so much about trial management when he did not come from the trial bench, but from academia. It’s very easy to Monday-morning-quarterback when you have not faced similar challenges. It seems like most of the dissent was about the length of the trial, which was not what the convicted were complaining about. In fact, the trial was so long because the judge was bending over backward to let them put on all that evidence (including the irrelevant crap about the death penalty during sentencing). If she had curtailed their defense, they would have argued that was unfair. Talk about a no-win situation for Pallmeyer.
Various reporters were talking about the unusual tone of the dissent. They are not familiar with Posner obviously, because he often uses inflammatory language such as “travesty” and takes condescending potshots at lower courts.
Comment by Anon Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 11:10 am
Give it up Steve S.
It is what it is!
Let’s move on.
Comment by Northside Bunker Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 11:23 am
The outcome of the Ryan trial was correct. The guy is a crook and has been a crook since his days back in Kankakee. His whole persona reminds me of a Chicago Ward hack thinking he is entitled to do whatever he chooses and shake down anyone in his “ward”. Ryan’s “ward” was the state.
That being said he did NOT receive a “fair process” in his trial. Process matters. The end does not justify the means in this type of case.
Comment by irishpirate Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 11:59 am
While I’m all for fair trials, for a majority of the entire appellate bench to declare there to have been “overwhelming evidence” of that defendant’s guilt, yet have the Supreme Court even agree to hear the case, would be nothing short of a travesty of justice (not to mention judicial politics). Ryan is simply angling to stall going to prison until he is either dead or can get ill enough to have his sentence deferred. Does anyone seriously believe an ordinary citizen could have had his decision reviewed by the entire appellate bench? This crook has gotten enough favors (yeah, I know, he’s probably owed many by his “friends”). His corrupt behavior indirectly led to the deaths of innocent children. He should at least do a few lousy years in jail
Comment by Snidely Whiplash Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 12:58 pm
Ryan’s defense team had a BIG part in dragging out that trial. My only regret is that the feds aren’t sending that SOB attorney of Ryan’s (Dan Webb) to be his bunk-mate up in Duluth. Webb deserves that fate for his perseuction… I mean prosecution, of Cook County Comm. Martin Tuchow on matters relaitng to his law practice in 1983. Tuchow was Finance Committee Chairman of the County Board when he was convicted in 1983. Had it not been for that trail (an effort to get Tuchow to squeal on others, which was unsuccessful), Tuchow (the first committeeman to ever slate a woman for Alderman and the first to ever slate an Asian-American for Alderman) would almost certainly ended up as George Dunne’s successor as County Board President, and Cook county would have been spared the plagues known as the Presidencies of John and Toddler Stroger.
Comment by fedup dem Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 1:03 pm
If the convicted felon demonstrated the slightest remorse for any of his crimes, it might be possible to have some sympathy for him. Since he has no conscience, I can’t find it in my heart to pity him. Blago probably would never had been elected governor if George Ryan had not been a criminal.
It would be ridiculaous to grant any further continuances of his jail sentence. I’d rate his chances that the Supreme court wil accept his case as near zero. Two separate groups of judges have concluded that George Ryan is “overwhelmingly guilty” despite the process flaws.
Comment by Captain America Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 1:21 pm
somewhere in the timing of Ryans comment, before he went to prison, is a joke about the sterotype of what happens to people when they enter prison life.
Comment by Ghost Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 1:59 pm
Well, Ed Hammer is a twit and that is the cleanest thing that I can say. He expects the former governor to know who he is? Which is what that hanger on ever wanted anyway.
Comment by Spring Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 2:27 pm
Dan Walker had a very good op ed in today’s Trib.
Why DON’T we ask GB Rod to issue the same exec. orders Walker did as Gov?
Why doesn’t AG Madigan do as Walker suggests?
Does HB 1 codify Walker’s orders? If not, why not?
Interesting Questions that they ought to be asked.
Comment by Pat Collins Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 2:31 pm
I am no George Ryan fan, but Mr. Hammer appears to the uninitiated to be an opportunistic buffoon. Does he fancy himself the next Michael Moore? Visiting a convicted man’s home to rub his nose in his own shame is a step too far.
Comment by Jake From Elwood Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 2:54 pm
Did anyone check out Ed Hammer’s story? It sounds a bit hinky to me.
With news camera’s posted all over the street in front of G. Ryan’s house, this guy strolls up and rings the door bell? And Ryan answers it? Yeah, right.
Comment by Shelbyville Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 4:10 pm
Anon 11:10 wrote:”Ryan was “old-school” to the extent that he did not do things much differently than Edgar or Thompson.”
AA is getting old and forgetful, but I don’t remember 50 State workers, including the chief of staff and IG, being Federally convicted during Thompson’s 14 years. Thompson understood and allowed patronage, personnel and pinstripe, but he was never the fundamental corner-cutter that George was. There were signs of George having trouble with accounting for cash contributions as far back as 1981, and it was totally ignored.
Hammer sounds like an opportunist for yesterday’s stunt. Sonneveld was and is a solid guy-I would hire him at AA world HQ in a heartbeat;one honest, thorough, policeman.
As for Steve’s question to Rich: I would be curious about Steve’s answer, too.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Oct 26, 07 @ 5:18 pm
If I were a partner at Winston and Strawn I would quickly find another law frim before yet millions more of partner money is spent defending the common criminal George Ryan. Yes George, you got screwed, all of the 19 indictments that you were convicted on were baseless. It will be hard enough for this freeloader to serve his 6 1/2 years but to refuse to admit guilt will certainly make those years longer and more embittered. George, read Dan Walker’s book, you will find out how dark your future looks. Maybe if you could think of the Willis family and ask for their forgiveness then your imprisonment might be more tolerable. Goodbye George, see you in 2014!!
Comment by wallace Saturday, Oct 27, 07 @ 2:47 pm