From the Sun-Times: 
 
Defense challenged 8 jurors 
 
April 20, 2006 
 
BY NATASHA KORECKI, ABDON M. PALLASCH, LISA DONOVAN, STEVE WARMBIR AND MICHAEL SNEED Staff Reporters 
 
 The defense in former Gov. George Ryan's trial launched a full-frontal assault on juror backgrounds in recent weeks in an apparent effort to plunge the proceedings into a mistrial, a barrage of court documents unsealed Wednesday reveal. 
 
 Defense lawyers for Ryan and Lawrence Warner argued the federal judge hearing the case acted unfairly by dismissing some jurors who provided misleading answers on pretrial questionnaires but not others. 
 
 Eight jurors were challenged in all, and the defense went to great lengths to dig up jurors' backgrounds. They brought up one person's DUI arrest from more than 40 years ago and another juror's purchase of a stolen bicycle. 
 The documents provide an extensive preview of the arguments Ryan is likely to raise when he appeals Monday's conviction on political corruption charges. 
 
 The bulk of the filings came after U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer tossed two jurors in March for not revealing their criminal backgrounds. She swapped in two alternates and ordered deliberations to start from scratch. 
 
 They also give an inside look at a jury that sometimes grew divided. Jurors alerted the judge about a panelist who kept falling asleep and when jurors improperly discussed testimony. 
 
'We are the ones on trial now' 
 
 The defense assault could prove harmful to potential jurors, said Ryan panelist Jill DiMartino, one of the eight jurors challenged. 
 
 DiMartino, 55, of Itasca, said she has some regrets about serving as a juror in this case. 
 
 "What I'm so upset [about] is that we worked so hard, and the defense is going after us to do a mistrial," she said. "I know they have a right to appeal, but it's like you're coming after people [who've] done a good job. In the end, it's turned around, and we are the ones on trial now." 
 
 But the defense argued that an arbitrary line was drawn. They said the judge excused Evelyn Ezell, who had never been convicted of a crime, but kept others who had convictions. 
 
 The unsealing comes as the defense continues to challenge the background of the foreperson, Sonja Chambers, saying she didn't disclose her civil court proceedings. They also contend she inappropriately discussed the case with a coffee cart owner who called a radio station about the discussion. 
 
 The Chicago Sun-Times found that Chambers has had involvement in court in three counties over 14 years. She said on her jury questionnaire that she has never been interested in the outcome of a case and never was a plaintiff, defendant or victim in a case. 
 
 One criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor, James Shapiro, called the defense's rehashing of a decades-old DUI "beyond the pale." 
 
 "That's really a hail Mary. It's all trying to make a record for appeal, not necessarily trying to get jurors bounced out," he said. 
 
Judge's inconsistency cited 
 
 Lead prosecutor Patrick Collins said Pallmeyer heard and ruled on all of the issues and that transcripts of those hearings would likely be unsealed today. Collins cautioned against assuming that jurors "lied" by not disclosing divorces, bankruptcies or years-old possibly expunged arrests. 
 
 "Did they knowingly hide it as opposed to read the question and didn't understand it?" Collins said. "Even if they lied, had they given the truth, would that have given the court reason to excuse them from the jury? . . . If [Pallmeyer] finds there is not a lie, that's really the end of it. She's very careful and cautious." 
 
 Another filing, meanwhile, raises an inconsistency on the part of Pallmeyer. In February, Pallmeyer lambasted the media for reporting that juror Cindy McFadden was dismissed from the panel because of a personality conflict. 
 
 "This juror was removed for personal reasons that are unrelated in any way to the merits of this case," Pallmeyer said at the time. 
 
'All I can do is wonder' 
 
 But filings unsealed Wednesday indicate five jurors, led by Kevin Rein, wrote notes to Pallmeyer complaining about McFadden. Rein said he could never respect her opinion, complaining she worked on a crossword puzzle in the jury box, read a book and fell asleep. Two jurors asked that their seats be changed because she had been snoring, according to a prosecution motion to dismiss the juror. 
 
 Ryan's and Warner's attorneys fought to keep McFadden on. They tried to get Rein and Charles Svymberski bounced from the jury for decades-old arrest records. 
 
 After two more jurors were removed, Ryan's lawyers sought a mistrial. They argued that jurors believed the feds were investigating their backgrounds and it tainted their deliberations. 
 
 "It has now been widely reported on TV and in the newspapers that the U.S. attorney could potentially prosecute jurors for perjury for lying on their questionnaires," they wrote. Jurors would then vote in favor of the feds for fear of being prosecuted, the defense contended. 
 
 As she heard news of other jurors' problems with the law, Ezell, tossed from the jury because she didn't disclose her own background, wondered whether she and fellow juror Robert Pavlick, 55, of Buffalo Grove, were targeted. Pavlick, who could not be reached, was dismissed for not disclosing criminal convictions. 
 
 "That's all I can do is wonder. Why did they do that?" said Ezell, charged but not convicted of a crime. 
 
 
THE JURORS IN QUESTION 
 
FIVE WHO STAYED 
 
KEVIN L. REIN 
48, of unincorporated Glen Ellyn 
On March 30, lawyers for Larry Warner argued unsuccessfully for a mistrial because Rein and other jurors failed to disclose arrests. Rein was arrested in 1980 for allegedly striking his pregnant 17-year-old sister in an argument over cats. The state dropped the charges because his sister wouldn't prosecute. He bought newspapers during the trial, but the court warned jurors against media exposure, the defense said. 
 
CHARLES P. SVYMBERSKY 
42, of Westmont 
Svymbersky, an alternate, served on the jury after Evelyn Ezell and Robert Pavlick were kicked off. He was listed in Warner's March 30 mistrial motion. He failed to disclose a 1983 guilty plea for buying a stolen bike in Peoria. He bought newspapers during the trial, the defense said. 
 
JILL DIMARTINO 
55, of Itasca 
She admitted her daughter, friends and co-workers questioned her about the case after the original deliberations began, according to Warner's attorneys, who argued those discussions were prejudicial. She stayed on the jury. 
 
SONJA CHAMBERS 
38, of Bolingbrook 
After the guilty verdict, lawyers for Ryan unsuccessfully sought a mistrial after learning Chambers, the foreperson, was involved in several civil court cases she failed to disclose on her jury form, including a 2004 divorce petition, filings for orders of protection and a lawsuit a furniture business brought against her in 2003. She also was divorced in 1991. 
 
RAUL CASINO 
65, of Palos Hills 
On March 28, George Ryan's defense team gave the court records showing Casino was arrested in 1962 on a charge of driving under the influence. The records did not show how the case was resolved. Casino did not disclose the arrest. He stayed on the jury. 
 
THREE REMOVED 
 
ROBERT PAVLICK 
55, of Buffalo Grove 
He was removed March 27 after failing to reveal on his jury form he was arrested several times on charges of driving under the influence and penalized by the secretary of state's office run by George Ryan for most of the 1990s. 
 
EVELYN EZELL 
44, of Chicago 
She was tossed March 27 for failing to disclose that under her maiden name, she was charged with misdemeanor child neglect, assault, weapons possession and felony drug possession between 1984 and 1994. She wasn't convicted. 
 
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN 
McFadden was removed from the jury in February. Filings unsealed Wednesday show jurors wrote notes to the judge complaining about McFadden's inattentiveness. A government filing indicates prosecutors pushed to get McFadden tossed, citing "juror complaints relating to McFadden that included two jurors asking for their seats to be relocated due to McFadden snoring during trial testimony."