Originally published October 15 2005
Former Illinois governor goes to trial for fraud
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
After calling for a moratorium in 2003 for the state's death row prisoners, Illinois governor George Ryan will have to answer for the heavy corruption that took place during his stint as secretary of state and governor.
Federal prosecutors have accused the Ryan administration of doling out big-money state contracts and leases to political insiders, resulting in charges being brought against 79 people, including many state employees.
Ryan, who maintains he is innocent, did not speak as he made his way through security and defense attorney Dan Webb said they had decided not to comment publicly during the trial.
"This is going to be a long trial.
It's going to last several months," Webb said.
"One thing I'm confident of is at the end of the day, after the jury's heard all of the evidence, they will find and see that George Ryan is not guilty of all charges in this indictment."
Some 300 prospective jurors had filled out detailed questionnaires last week asking them about their backgrounds and how much they followed political scandals.
Ryan, who won accolades from capital punishment critics by clearing the state's death row before he left office in 2003, faces 22 charges of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, lying to the FBI and tax fraud.
"They haven't got one witness that said they gave me a corrupt dollar or they paid me off in any fashion with money," the 71-year-old Republican said in a July interview with Chicago's WGN-TV.
The charges grew out of the federal government's Operation Safe Road, which initially focused on bribes exchanged for drivers licenses but over seven years expanded into a full-blown investigation of political corruption when Ryan was secretary of state and later governor.
Ryan's former chief of staff, Scott Fawell, who is now serving a 6 1/2-year sentence, is penciled in as the government's leadoff witness and prosecutors say he could be on the stand for as long as three weeks.
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