From the Tribune: 
 
 GEORGE RYAN ON TRIAL 
 
   
Ryan jury selection gets off to slow start 
Prospective jurors caught in a web of many questions 
 
By Matt O'Connor 
Tribune staff reporter 
Published September 20, 2005 
 
 The judge in the federal trial of former Gov. George Ryan had hoped a detailed questionnaire filled out last week by prospective jurors would help speed up jury selection, but the process started off Monday at a snail's pace. 
 
 When U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer recessed court shortly before 6:30 p.m., only eight prospective jurors had passed the initial cut on the first day of the jury selection. 
 
 Eleven others had been bounced by Pallmeyer, mostly because of perceived biases toward Ryan. 
 
 Though Pallmeyer had hoped as many as 50 people might be questioned in a single day, on Monday only 14 were, largely because of lengthy questioning by Ryan's lead lawyer, Dan K. Webb. 
 
 By the end of the day, prosecutors called for Pallmeyer to impose a time limit on the questioning of each prospective juror. 
 
 But Webb defended his actions, saying it is too important a case to risk letting jurors with a bias toward the former longtime officeholder decide his fate. 
 
 "Because he was governor, this is a highly unusual case," Webb told the judge. 
 
 Pallmeyer expressed concern about the pace and said she might intercede by Tuesday afternoon if things didn't pick up. 
 
 Ryan and co-defendant Lawrence Warner are on trial on charges that the former governor took cash, gifts and vacations for himself and relatives in return for steering state contracts and leases to Warner and other friends. 
 
 On entering the courthouse Monday, Webb told reporters he was confident that Ryan would be vindicated of wrongdoing. The trial is expected to take about four months. 
 
 Ryan appeared relaxed, joking with reporters as he walked into the courtroom, "You all had to get up early this morning." Prosecutors didn't object to Ryan's wife, Lura Lynn, attending jury selection but have moved to block her from the rest of the trial as long as she remains a possible defense witness. 
 
 Last week about 300 potential jurors came to the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse and answered a 32-page questionnaire about their backgrounds, knowledge of the case and opinions of Ryan. 
 
 But it appeared from the first day of jury selection that the questionnaire raised as many questions as it answered. 
 
 The goal is to find a pool of 50 to 60 people who say they can be fair and impartial. Then lawyers for both sides will exercise their peremptory challenges, striking up to a combined 28 people without having to give a reason on the record. Then a 12-person jury and six alternates will be picked from those still in the pool. 
 
 Eleven jurors didn't make the initial cut on Monday and were excused for "cause," mostly because of biases apparent from their answers in the questionnaires but in a few cases because of hardships as a result of medical, work or other reasons. 
 
 Most of the 14 jurors questioned in court Monday didn't express strong opinions about Ryan pro or con, hadn't read or seen much publicity about the Operation Safe Road investigation and had only vague knowledge of the charges against the former governor. 
 
 Webb questioned them at length about their views of Ryan, his fight against the death penalty, their understanding of legal principles such as presumed innocence and whether they could stand their ground if they were the lone holdout against conviction. 
 
 A Jewel employee who expressed animosity toward politicians in the questionnaire backed off the comment in court Monday. But Webb moved to have her excused, arguing she held "a strong bias" against Ryan. Pallmeyer, though, agreed with prosecutors and passed her through the initial cut. 
 
 Pallmeyer held the jury selection in a small courtroom in hopes it would help ease prospective jurors' nerves in being questioned. Potential jurors sat in the witness chair and were questioned individually in a courtroom crowded with more than 50 lawyers, reporters and spectators. 
 
 But by Monday afternoon, the judge reconsidered and announced she would return to her more spacious courtroom on Tuesday for the rest of jury selection.