Estate=4 wrote:
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who drew international praise when he commuted the sentences of everyone on the state's death row, was convicted of racketeering and fraud Monday in a corruption scandal that ended his political career.
The verdict came after ten days of deliberations.
The jury's decision ends the state's biggest political corruption trial in decades, and draws a conclusion on the long career of a politician who gained international fame as a death penalty critic but left office in 2003 amid a widespread corruption scandal.
The charges stemmed from an eight-year investigation of corruption, starting at the drivers licensing bureau and eventually reaching the governor's office.
Ryan, 72, was indicted about a year after he left office. He was charged with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, obstructing the Internal Revenue Service, tax fraud and lying to the FBI, much of it from his time as secretary of state in the 1990s.
Prosecutors accused him of steering big-money state contracts and leases, including a $25 million IBM computer deal, to his friends and political insiders.
The verdict came after ten days of deliberations.
The jury's decision ends the state's biggest political corruption trial in decades, and draws a conclusion on the long career of a politician who gained international fame as a death penalty critic but left office in 2003 amid a widespread corruption scandal.
The charges stemmed from an eight-year investigation of corruption, starting at the drivers licensing bureau and eventually reaching the governor's office.
Ryan, 72, was indicted about a year after he left office. He was charged with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, obstructing the Internal Revenue Service, tax fraud and lying to the FBI, much of it from his time as secretary of state in the 1990s.
Prosecutors accused him of steering big-money state contracts and leases, including a $25 million IBM computer deal, to his friends and political insiders.