From the Sun-Times:

Plenty of turmoil -- but no mistrial 'silver bullet'

April 23, 2006
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH AND STEVE WARMBIR Staff Reporters
Newly unsealed files in former Gov. George Ryan's corruption trial
Friday show just how deep opposing sides dug into jurors' backgrounds
and how bitterly they fought to keep some jurors on and to have others
removed.
But yet to be found in 1,283 pages of unsealed documents is any silver
bullet that would guarantee Ryan and his friend Larry Warner a new
trial -- nowhere do the transcripts quote Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer
saying that ousting a particular juror would break a logjam or hasten
a verdict.
That doesn't mean Ryan and Warner won't win on appeal. Even
prosecutors concede the startling number of jurors who fibbed on their
juror forms looks pretty bad. But the U.S. Supreme Court, prosecutors
kept reminding Pallmeyer, does not guarantee a perfect trial, only a
fair one.
Moments after jurors pronounced Ryan and Warner guilty Monday, Ryan's
attorney Dan Webb said he would appeal the verdict based on "unusual
developments that occurred during the past five weeks of
deliberations."
"A bunch of that is under seal," Webb said. "Although that seal will
be lifted, and you all can make your judgments about how unusual the
developments have been during deliberations."
Behind the seals that came off Friday are some messy deliberations
with jurors ganging up on others to send notes to Pallmeyer asking her
to bump some jurors off the jury, and defense lawyers arguing to keep
those jurors on and knock others off.
Prosecutors dig up dirt on jurors
Defense attorneys spent two hours Monday in Pallmeyer's chambers
arguing to bounce the jury forewoman based on her divorce court
records that a defense attorney's colleague stumbled upon. Forewoman
Sonja Chambers said she had not been in court. But records uncovered
showed she had been in court plenty of times seeking orders of
protection against her husband.
A coffee shop owner came in and told Pallmeyer that Chambers had
discussed innocuous things about the deliberations with him. Chambers
said she never talked to the man except to say, "Can I have hazelnut
in my coffee?"
As a courtroom overflowing with spectators awaited the verdict the
jury had reached, Pallmeyer faced the choice of disqualifying Chambers
and perhaps starting the whole seven-month trial over again, or giving
Chambers the benefit of the doubt -- even though Pallmeyer had bounced
other jurors for lying about their court histories.
Pallmeyer kept Chambers on the jury and accepted its verdict.
It turns out it was prosecutors, not the defense attorneys, who dug up
most of the decades-old criminal records of some jurors, which defense
attorneys used to try to get them bounced from the jury. But it wasn't
the prosecutors' idea.
After press accounts that two jurors had omitted criminal histories
from their questionnaires, the judge asked the U.S. attorney's office
to run background checks on everybody. That turned up a 44-year-old
DUI for juror Raul Casino.
Called in for questioning by the judge, Casino said he had forgotten.
"I am not a crook or anything like that," he told the judge.
The judge was sympathetic.
"Grilling Mr. Casino is one of the most distasteful things I have done
in this job," Pallmeyer said. "This is a decent man who has given us
six months of his life."
Conviction for buying stolen bike
The record turned up a 26-year-old arrest for juror Kevin Rein.
Defense attorneys argued forcefully that Rein had punched his
then-17-year-old pregnant sister and should be bounced from the jury
the same way Pallmeyer had already bounced two other jurors who failed
to note their convictions on their questionnaires. One of those
jurors, Evelyn Ezell, claims she was chased off the jury by other
jurors such as Rein for refusing to vote to convict Ryan on all
counts.
But Rein said he thought his arrest had been expunged. He was fighting
with his sister about cats and she never pressed charges even though
he was locked up.
Alternate juror Charles Svymbersky had a 23-year-old conviction for
buying a stolen bicycle he likewise thought had been wiped from his
record.
Pallmeyer said she saw a difference between the lighter sins of these
jurors and those she bounced.
Appellate courts generally will not consider what was allegedly being
said in jury deliberations. They only consider outside pressures
brought to bear on juries. They give judges discretion to excuse
jurors, as long as it's for good cause, not because a juror is holding
out for a different verdict.
But Ryan's attorneys hope the unusual circumstances in this case, with
multiple jurors being excused and replaced during deliberations and
alleged inconsistent criteria for removals, will tempt the appellate
judges to take a look.
Contributing: Frank Main, Mark Konkol, Lori Rackl, Chris Fusco, Andrew Herrmann