October 26, 2007
SCOTUS Could Get Ryan Case
Yesterday's setback for former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who was convicted on fraud and corruption charges, has his lawyers scrambling for their last shot to keep Ryan out of jail: the Supreme Court.
A federal appellate court denied Ryan's attorneys' request to appeal, in which they claimed he deserved another trial because of extensive problems with the jury. Taking the case to the Supreme Court, they said, is an attempt to keep the 73-year-old Republican free on bail.
One expert told the Los Angeles Times, however, that the justices are unlikely to hear the case.
"The justices like cases that present general issues of law, and this one really doesn't," said Albert Alschuler, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law. "It's a political-hot-potato case."
Ryan was convicted last year of accepting huge bribes and manipulating contracts to steer money toward his friends and associates while serving as Illinois' secretary of state and governor in the early '90s. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, and he has four days after the appeals court issues its final order to start serving his term.
