From the Tribune: 
 
Ryan's lawyers took aim at jurors 
Unsealed filings show bid to dump 4 others 
 
By Matt O'Connor and Rudolph Bush 
Tribune staff reporters 
Published April 19, 2006, 11:21 PM CDT 
 
 Newly unsealed court filings reveal a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity by lawyers for former Gov. George Ryan in recent weeks as part of a concerted bid to persuade a federal judge to declare a mistrial over allegations of juror misconduct. 
 
 After two jurors had been dismissed during deliberations for concealing arrest records, Ryan's lawyers sought to have four additional jurors thrown off as well, saying they lied on juror questionnaires as well. 
 
 Four of the jurors had failed to reveal arrests from more than 20 years before—one for allegedly striking his pregnant, teenage sister, a second for buying a stolen bicycle and a third juror for allegedly hiding arrests from the 1960s, the filings revealed. The fourth was the jury forewoman, who defense lawyers said did not reveal that she had been involved in civil court cases. 
 
 Attorneys for co-defendant Lawrence Warner sought to disqualify yet another juror for discussing the case with a relative, friends and co-workers while she was an alternate and not part of the first round of deliberations. 
 
 The all-out efforts by the defense to bring the trial to a halt before a verdict failed to win the support of U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer but will clearly form the basis for an appeal. 
 
 The jury convicted former governor and Warner, a close friend and lobbyist, on Monday on all counts of wide-ranging corruption charges in the marathon trial. The defense has vowed an appeal revolving around a series of juror controversies since deliberations began last month. 
 
 Just minutes before the verdict was announced, the defense sought to remove the jury forewoman for not revealing a divorce and court orders of protection during jury selection in September. 
 
 Pallmeyer ordered Wednesday that the filings relating to the jurors be unsealed. The judge could order the release as soon as Thursday of transcripts of a number of closed-door hearings among lawyers and the judge on the juror issues. 
 
 Pallmeyer had ordered the proceedings kept secret to protect the privacy of the jurors and the integrity of the process, she said. 
 
 In a statement after the release of the documents Wednesday, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald defended the fairness of the trial, the jury and Pallmeyer's efforts. 
 
 "The jurors served at considerable personal sacrifice, and now that their service is complete, they are entitled to a measure of the same fairness with which they went about their duties," Fitzgerald said. "The judge took steps above and beyond what the law required by making findings after conducting hearings and resolving the issues with great care." 
 
 The deliberations played out over more than a month amid controversy. After the Tribune discovered last month that jurors Robert Pavlick and Evelyn Ezell had concealed their arrest records during jury selection, Pallmeyer excused them, added alternates in their place and ordered deliberations to start over again. By then the original jury had deliberated eight days. 
 
 The forewoman, Sonja Chambers, was also at the center of another recent dispute after a caller to a radio talk show—a small-business owner named "Dennis"—claimed she had improperly discussed the case with him last month. 
 
 The judge sided with Chambers, who denied the allegation. 
 
 The unsealed filings open a window on the previously secret proceedings, including an unsuccesful bid by the defense earlier in the trial to dismiss Pavlick for allegedly discussing the case with other jurors, and provide a glimpse at the acrimony among some jurors. 
 
 One juror, Cynthia McFadden, was ousted in the final days of the trial after complaints by five other jurors that she was sleeping during testimony. 
 
 Ryan's legal team—led by Dan Webb—objected to McFadden's dismissal and alleged that "a faction of jurors is instigating" her removal. 
 
 "To permit a group of jurors to oust a juror they deem 'disruptive' or otherwise unworthy of participating in deliberations will have a chilling effect on deliberations," the defense said in the Feb. 13 filing. 
 
 The defense took the judge to task for dismissing Pavlick and Ezell for not revealing past arrests on the juror questionnaire but failing to bounce three other jurors for the same conduct. 
 
 According to the unsealed filings, juror Kevin Rein concealed a 1980 arrest in DuPage County for allegedly hitting his pregnant 17-year-old sister in a quarrel over cats. But the charges were dropped when the sister declined to prosecute Rein, the defense said. 
 
 Another juror, Charles Svymbersky, failed to mention on the questionnaire that he was arrested in 1983 in Peoria for buying a stolen bicycle, according to records obtained by the defense. 
 
 Defense attorneys also produced arrest records from the 1960s that they say were for Raul Casino. 
 
 Another juror, Jill DiMartino, admitted that her daughter, friends and co-workers questioned her about the case during the original deliberations while she was an alternate, Warner's lawyers contended in unsuccessfully seeking to block her from rejoining the jury after the dismissal of Pavlick and Ezell. 
 
 None of the jurors could be reached for comment Wednesday on the allegations in the filings except for Ezell and DiMartino, who vehemently denied she discussed the case with anyone. 
 
 "I came home from work today, and my husband said my picture was on the TV, saying that they checked into more jurors and some of them lied on their questionnaires," she said. "I was livid. I really didn't discuss the case with anyone. It's the defense throwing little things out to stir up a commotion." 
 
 "I know in my mind and my heart that I went in there with an open mind," she said. 
 
 Ryan's lawyers contended that following the Tribune's disclosures about Pavlick and Ezell, jurors learned from other jurors, media accounts or friends that an investigation was under way into their criminal backgrounds. It was also widely reported that Pavlick and Ezell could face prosecution for perjury for lying on the questionnaires, the defense noted. 
 
 "The effect of the outside influence in this regard cannot be overstated: a jury that perceives itself as under investigation undoubtedly has the desire to please prosecutorial authorities ... and vote for a conviction—regardless of the evidence," the April 4 defense filing said. 
 
 "This jury now has every incentive to vote in favor of conviction and none to vote for an acquittal." 
 
Tribune reporters Ray Gibson and Gerry Doyle contributed to this report