From the Sun-Times:
The George Ryan Trial
Ryan's lawyer: Witness fabricated testimony
December 14, 2005
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Legal Affairs Reporter
 
Sparks flew at former Gov. George Ryan's corruption trial Tuesday as Ryan's attorney accused a government witness of making up stories on the stand to please prosecutors.

The prosecutors, in turn, accused Ryan's lawyer Dan Webb of unethical and unprofessional conduct for suggesting they goaded the witness into making up a story.

Webb said he was highly offended to have his ethics questioned, and Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer declared a five-minute break to let tempers cool.

"Are there times when you just sit up here on the witness stand and just make up things . . . so you won't lose your plea deal?" Webb had loudly demanded of government witness Donald Udstuen.

Prosecution resents accusation
Webb ridiculed Udstuen's "miraculous" remembrance -- on the eve of the trial -- of a phone conversation he had with top Ryan aide Scott Fawell or Rich Juliano. Udstuen did not remember which one.

He said either Fawell or Juliano sought his help getting Udstuen's friend Alan Drazek to handle money from the Phil Gramm presidential campaign. Prosecutors say Ryan funneled money from the campaign to his children. Until Udstuen suddenly remembered the phone call, no one had been able to connect the governor's office to Drazek in the alleged scheme, Webb noted.

"Did you just make that up this morning?" Webb said. "How many times has the government come to you and tried to get you to remember that . . . and told you to say that . . . and you told them it didn't happen?"

Webb produced transcripts of earlier interviews Udstuen gave federal officials at which they asked if he had any involvement with the Gramm campaign and he said no.

"Did you tell them you were not involved at all?" Webb asked.

"Initially, yes," Udstuen responded. He said he failed to see the importance of the discrepancy.

"We'll let the jury decide what's important," Webb said. "I am trying to find out whether you make things up."

After jurors left the room, prosecutor Patrick Collins told Judge Pallmeyer, "There is a proper way and an improper way to do what he just did, and once again he did it the improper way."

Webb's repeated questions to Udstuen about how prosecutors "made him" or "got him" to recall a phone call Webb said never happened in effect accused prosecutor Joel R. Levin and FBI agent Ray Ruebenson of unethical conduct, Collins said. "Mr. Levin and Mr. Ruebenson have more ethics than Mr. Webb has. I can say that as officer of the court," Collins said. "He's trying to smear us with this jury. He's the 'greatest lawyer in America' and he comes back and impugns our integrity." This is the fifth time during the trial Webb has done it, Collins said.

Exec blasts co-defendant
Webb said he was only trying to show that Udstuen felt pressure to come up with better stories to justify the vastly reduced prison sentence he gets as a reward for his cooperation.

"I have a reputation to protect," Webb said. "If I've done something unethical, we need to get that resolved. I've been trying cases for a lot of years -- I've not had an opponent accuse me of unprofessional conduct."

Pallmeyer came down hard on Webb, pointing out that Udstuen first remembered the phone call while Webb interviewed him at his office. "You didn't trick him into coming up with it," Pallmeyer said. "Maybe he just remembered it."

Also Tuesday, jurors heard from a former Polaroid executive who said Ryan co-defendant Larry Warner told him on a golf course that for $400,000, he could make sure Polaroid kept its contract to make driver's licenses in Illinois. Thomas Budny refused to pay, and Polaroid lost the contract.HIGHLIGHTS

Defense: For years, government witness Donald Udstuen never mentioned a phone call from one of Gov. Ryan's top aides seeking to have Udstuen's friend Alan Drazek handle money from the Phil Gramm presidential committee bound for Ryan's kids. Ryan's attorneys say Udstuen "made up" the phone call to please prosecutors.

Prosecutors: Former Polaroid executive Thomas Budny said Ryan co-defendant Larry Warner told him on a golf course that for $400,000, he could make sure Polaroid kept its contract to make driver's licenses in Illinois. Budny refused to pay, and Polaroid lost the contract.

Up Next: Former Cook County GOP leader Manny Hoffman testifies.