From the State Journal Register

Judge: No separate trial for Warner
By MIKE RAMSEY
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
CHICAGO - Former Gov. George Ryan's co-defendant in a federal corruption
case cannot have an earlier, separate trial, a judge ruled Thursday.
Larry Warner's defense attorney had argued that his client is entitled to a
speedy trial and requested a Feb. 23 start date. The 65-year-old Warner was
originally indicted in May 2002 for allegedly fixing state contracts and
leases, but the charges were revised Dec. 17 to include the former governor,
whose own attorney has requested 15 months to prepare a defense.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer sided with federal prosecutors who
opposed severing the cases. She said Warner, who claims emotional distress,
hasn't demonstrated that waiting longer would prevent him from getting a
fair trial.
"By all estimates, trial of these charges is expected to be lengthy and
complex," Pallmeyer wrote in an eight-page opinion. "To proceed with such a
trial not once, but twice, would tax the resources of the U.S. attorney's
office and disrupt the court's calendar for, in the parties' estimation, at
least 10 months."
Pallmeyer said a trial would be scheduled for early 2005, in line with what
Ryan's defense team has requested. A status hearing in the case is scheduled
for this morning at Chicago's Dirksen Federal Building.
A large part of the government's 22-count indictment is that Warner pocketed
$3 million by manipulating deals in the secretary of state's office when his
friend Ryan held the elected post in the 1990s. Ryan also is accused of
accepting illegal payments and gifts and funneling money to family members;
the charges seep into his 1999-2003 tenure as governor.
The 69-year-old Kankakee Republican pleaded innocent at a Dec. 23
arraignment. His defense attorney, former federal prosecutor Dan Webb, said
Ryan would testify at trial.
Ryan, in his final years in office, was plagued by the federal investigation
into corruption under his watch in the secretary of state's office - a probe
that started in 1998 with lower-level graft but moved increasingly higher.
Ryan became the 66th person to be charged in "Operation Safe Road."
Fifty-nine have been convicted. Ryan's former top aide, Scott Fawell, and
his political campaign fund, Citizens for George Ryan, last year were found
guilty of racketeering.
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