CHICAGO — After nearly six months of testimony and five weeks of jury deliberations, former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan was convicted on all counts Monday in a sweeping federal corruption case.
The jury found Ryan, 72, guilty of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts for himself and his family in exchange for doling out millions of dollars' worth of state business and lucrative contracts to friends and associates. The crimes occurred from 1991 to early 2003, when Ryan was Illinois' secretary of state and governor.
Ryan, who sat stoically as the verdict was read, could receive a maximum penalty of 95 years in prison and $4.5 million in fines when he is sentenced in August.
"The decision today is not in accordance with the kind of public service I've given to the people of Illinois for over 40 years," said Ryan, who plans to appeal.
The case has marred the legacy of a man once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Before he left office, Ryan shook up the national debate over capital punishment by placing a moratorium on executions in Illinois because some inmates had been wrongly convicted.
But in a city with more FBI corruption investigation units than any other -- and in a state where racketeering cases long have been part of the political landscape -- Ryan's conviction marked the latest success by U.S. Atty. Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
"Until this city, this county, this state understands there are victims of corruption, until voters understand this ... the system will not change," Patrick Collins, assistant U.S. attorney and lead prosecutor in the Ryan case, said at a news conference Monday. "There's plenty for us to do. When people lie to us, when they shred documents, it only makes us work harder."
The Ryan case served as a reminder of past political shenanigans in the state capital of Springfield, where facing federal charges has at times seemed an occupational hazard.
Five of Illinois' last nine governors have been convicted of, tried for or stained by charges of criminal activity. The late former Gov. Otto Kerner Jr. was convicted of conspiracy and tax evasion after, among other things, giving the owner of a horse racetrack special treatment in exchange for profiting from buying and selling the track's stock.
And after former Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell died in 1970, investigators found nearly half a million dollars in cash and checks -- from unsuspecting drivers paying for their license plates -- crammed into shoe boxes inside his hotel room.
