Ryan Prosecution Draws to a Close

Summing up nearly six months of testimony in the corruption and racketeering trial of former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan, prosecutors painted a grim portrait Monday of a corrupt, arrogant man whose actions forced the state to sacrifice public safety for political payoffs.

Ryan was eagerly “pillaging the state coffers” for years and “might as well have put a ‘For Sale’ sign on his office” when acting as Illinois governor and secretary of state, assistant U.S. Atty. Joel Levin told jurors.

“You’ve heard of the 12 days of Christmas,” Levin said. “This was 12 years of Christmas for Ryan, for Ryan’s friends and his family.”

Prosecutors have charged that Ryan, 72, and his relatives accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for state business contracts from 1991 to early 2003.

Among other things, Ryan allegedly lounged in Jamaica and Cancun at someone else’s expense; encouraged state workers to aid his and other political campaigns while working in state offices and earning a state paycheck; and enjoyed complimentary trips to Las Vegas casinos with co-defendant Lawrence E. Warner.

“This was corruption with a capital ‘C’,” Levin said.

Prosecutors have also charged that Warner, 67, a businessman and longtime Ryan family friend, profited the most from Ryan’s alleged wrongdoings.

Together, Ryan and Warner face 22 counts, including racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, filing false tax returns and making false statements to investigators.

Both men have pleaded not guilty.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer has blocked out four days for closing arguments this week -- dividing the time between the government’s arguments and rebuttal by Ryan’s lead defense attorney, Dan K. Webb; and Warner’s lawyer, Edward Genson.

Despite the lengthy trial, a mountain of paperwork and about 110 witnesses, lawyers for both sides have said this week’s closing arguments might be the deciding factor to sway the jurors.

The key problem prosecutors face, say legal experts, is that no one has testified to seeing the former governor actually taking a bribe.

“It’s going to be a close call, particularly on the RICO charge,” said Leonard L. Cavise, professor of criminal law at DePaul College of Law in Chicago, who has been tracking the case.

“There are no videotapes, no wiretaps, no confessions. There are all these innuendoes, but the prosecutors don’t have anybody who stood up and showed that George Ryan told them, ‘You give my campaign cash, I’ll give you a contract.’ ”

This is expected to be the crux of the defense closing argument, led by Webb -- the former U.S. attorney in Chicago who headed investigations into judicial corruption in Cook County, Ill., and successfully prosecuted John M. Poindexter in the Iran-Contra affair.

The defense team, whose arguments are set to begin today, has said it plans to underscore the point that Ryan acted in “good faith” when making decisions on contracts while in political office.

But prosecutors spent most of Monday reminding jurors that, according to Illinois law, it doesn’t matter whether anyone saw Ryan take a specific bribe for a particular contract.

Instead, prosecutors said, Ryan could still be convicted of fraud -- if he exhibited a pattern of fraudulent behavior, such as routinely taking perks from friends and lobbyists to whom he awarded state business.

Jurors shouldn’t focus on who “paid certain amounts of cash for every dirty deal,” Levin said, because “these were not packages with bright red lettering that said, ‘This is to influence you.’ ”

Levin outlined how Ryan’s campaign fund -- Citizens for Ryan -- was tapped to pay for Ryan’s taste for fancy restaurant meals and luxurious trips.

The fund was bolstered by the millions of dollars raised by state workers who were forced to sell fundraising tickets, Levin said. Some of those workers allegedly took bribes in exchange for driver’s licenses to pay for these tickets.

To help hide these actions and curtail any potential investigations into the fundraising program, Levin said, Ryan appointed his friend Dean Bauer inspector general for the secretary of state’s office.

The investigation of Ryan began in the wake of a traffic accident in 1994 in which an unqualified truck driver killed six children.

The children’s parents -- the Rev. Duane “Scott” Willis and his wife, Janet -- sat on the wooden courtroom bench Monday. The couple, who declined to talk about the case, spent the day stoically watching Ryan sit hunched over the defense table.

His face flushed and his expression stern, Ryan focused only on the jury of seven women and nine men.

If convicted of all charges, Ryan faces a maximum penalty of $4.5 million and 95 years in prison.