Patrick Fitzgerald Sends GOP Crook Gov. Ryan Up River For 6 Years!

[Dems Will Win]

Former Illinois Governor Ryan Gets 6 ½-Year Sentence

By Andrew Harris and Eddie Baeb

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- George Ryan, the former Illinois governor nominated for a Nobel Prize after he commuted 157 death sentences over doubts about the state's criminal-justice system, was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison for public corruption.

Ryan, 72, said it was ``the saddest day of my life'' shortly before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer today pronounced sentence. On hearing the term length, Ryan sat calmly, staring at the defense table. The courtroom was packed with about 125 detractors, supporters and reporters, including another former Illinois governor, James Thompson, whose law firm defended Ryan.

``The people of Illinois expected more of me, and I let them down,'' Ryan, a Republican, said in his remarks to the judge at a hearing in Chicago. ``No matter what sentence you put on me, that failure will never leave me.''

Ryan, a former pharmacist, has appealed the verdict and asked Pallmeyer to allow him to remain free in the interim. He faced 95 years in prison and $4.5 million in fines for his conviction on charges of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, false statements and tax fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins asked Pallmeyer for a sentence of at least 6 ½ years.

...

Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald called the sentence ``appropriate.'' Pallmeyer hasn't ruled on Ryan's motion to remain free on bond. She said the former governor wouldn't be required to surrender to prison authorities until Jan. 4.

Collins said before sentencing that Ryan had never acknowledged wrongdoing in the case, and asked the judge to send a message that there are consequences for public corruption.

...

Illinois' governor from 1999 to 2003, Ryan was accused of trading Caribbean trips, gifts and cash for state contracts. The former governor, who also served as Illinois' secretary of state from 1990 to 1998, was indicted by a grand jury in December 2003 for offenses he committed while in both posts.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ae1bxt86n.9A&refer=us

Here's a timeline for the uninitiated:



Please RECOMMEND THIS THREAD, so people talk more about another GOP convicted official!!

[Octafish]

1. One down.

9,999 to go.

[NMDemDist2]

2. I'm just hoping Fitz has some free time to get back to DC now

:bounce:

[QuestionAll...]

3. oh, I recall that from a couple years ago... Ryan undoing

the death sentences.
I admired the guy for it, that took guts.

maybe he was set up because of that unrepug renegade action?
I don't know what to believe anymore.
but he did save 157 lives, how many the f has Gorge saved?

[peacebaby3]

4. I have very mixed feelings about this. I think Ryan did a lot of changing

later in life. I met him and he was a very nice man and really did take a brave stand for those of us that do death penalty work.

While I don't condone what he did, I have a great admiration for the stand he took against the DP when it was very unpopular for him to do so.

I won't rejoice over him going to jail.

edit: typo

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. "Expected more of me, and I let them down."

That could be the Republican era swan song.

[texpatriot2004]

6. Kick it for Fitzgerald nm