From the Daily Herald: 
 
Defense takes hit in Ryan corruption trial 
 
By Rob Olmstead 
Daily Herald Staff Writer 
Posted Thursday, October 13, 2005 
 
A federal judge sided with prosecutors in the George Ryan trial Wednesday when they complained that the attorney for former Gov. George Ryan twice crossed the line separating vigorous representation and reckless accusations. 
 
Prosecutors complained that Ryan’s attorney, Dan Webb, had improperly suggested to the jury that prosecutors had deliberately tolerated perjury in Scott Fawell’s trial and had a hand in shuttling him for weeks between prisons in an effort to get him to roll over on Ryan, his old boss. 
 
“This, your honor, was way over the top,” said prosecutor Joel Levin to U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer. 
 
Pallmeyer took Webb to task Wednesday morning in response to comments Webb made Tuesday while questioning Fawell, Ryan’s former chief of staff. Ryan and co-defendant Larry Warner are accused of racketeering and other crimes. Prosecutors allege Ryan took gifts from Warner and others in exchange for governmental contracts and favors. 
 
The judge had allowed Webb to ask Fawell if he believed witnesses in Fawell’s 2003 corruption trial had lied on the stand in an effort to get out of prison time, but only as an indication of Fawell’s state of mind, not as to whether those witnesses really lied. 
 
Fawell testified he did believe that, which was fine with the judge, but she took issue when Webb then repeated those assertions as fact before the jury in follow-up questions. 
 
Webb said he was simply trying to get to Fawell’s state of mind. 
 
“He (Fawell) believes that if he gives them (prosecutors) what they want … he’ll get a good deal,” Webb said. 
 
Pallmeyer wasn’t buying it. 
 
“You (Webb) yourself twice said, ‘You know that happened,’” said Pallmeyer, quoting from Tuesday’s transcript. 
 
She also noted that, although he didn’t know for a fact that witnesses had lied, Webb then asked Fawell if he was disappointed that prosecutors hadn’t pursued perjury charges. 
 
“It isn’t proper. It does impugn the integrity of the process, and there’s no evidence (that witnesses actually lied or that the government ignored Fawell’s claims),” she said. 
 
She then admonished the jury to take Tuesday’s testimony only as an indication of Fawell’s state of mind, not as fact. 
 
Later Wednesday, Pallmeyer again sided with prosecutors when they complained a chart of Webb’s implied that prosecutors played a role in Fawell’s long trip to be arraigned on bid-rigging charges in March 2004 — a trip which included a stop in Terre Haute and an isolation cell. 
 
She admonished the jury that U.S. marshals, not prosecutors, arrange transportation. 
 
The day didn’t go totally against Webb, however. 
 
His point, he said, had been to show that Fawell agreed to testify only because of his fears his fiancée, Andrea Coutretsis, would go to prison for more than a year and because of pressure from prosecutors. Coutretsis is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to corruption charges. “We just want to put this misery behind us,” Fawell said as he took the stand for a fifth day. 
 
Fawell also said he had toned down his testimony since his first day on the stand, realizing that his cocky answers were angering federal prosecutors who could torpedo a deal he made with them that could keep Coutretsis out of prison. She could go to prison for as much as 18 months but stands to get a break — possibly probation — depending on how much Fawell cooperates with the government. 
 
“I love her so much that I couldn’t stand the hurt that would be caused to her and the kids” if she went to prison, Fawell wrote in a letter to Judge James F. Holderman, who will sentence Coutretsis. “If there was anything I could do to make this all go away, I would do it.” 
 
While Webb was asking about the letter, Fawell choked up for the second straight day and was led out by marshals to regain his composure. When court resumed, Webb returned to the topic. 
 
He reminded Fawell that his deal with prosecutors left it up to the government about whether to file a motion seeking a break for Coutretsis. He added that if prosecutors believe “that you haven’t been useful to them during this trial that they have the right not to file that motion.” 
 
“I don’t want to give anybody the excuse to double-cross me,” Fawell said. 
 
Webb also got Fawell to testify that the contracts and leases at issue in Ryan’s trial were treated the same way as most contracts — meaning that underlings reviewed them and made recommendations before they ever got to Ryan. Fawell again testified that he thought Ryan never broke the law or took money in exchange for decisions on governmental policy. 
 
The trial resumes Monday. 
 
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