From the Daily Herald:

Jurors insist Fawell had too much against him to acquit
By Shamus Toomey and Robert Sanchez Daily Herald Staff Writers
Posted March 21, 2003

No single piece of evidence or testimony sunk former Gov. George Ryan's campaign fund or aide Scott Fawell, but rather it was the crush of corroborating evidence from an eight-week parade of witnesses, jurors said Thursday.

Speaking out for the first time since delivering sweeping racketeering convictions of Ryan's former chief of staff and his campaign committee a day before, several jurors said that while some witnesses who admitted wrongdoing could have been mavericks, there were just too many to exonerate Fawell.

"So much was going on, how could he not know that something was going on?" said Lynda Filipello, 64, a Lisle businesswoman and forewoman of the seven-man, five-woman jury.

Though the jury eventually came together to convict on all counts, some are divided about whether they heard enough evidence to believe Ryan himself will meet a similar fate.

"It's possible," said juror John Pender, 67, a retired Illinois Department of Public Aid worker from Chicago who once voted for Ryan. "But most of the evidence we had was directed at Scott Fawell and Citizens for Ryan."

Filipello said she didn't see enough evidence to incriminate the former governor, who has not been charged but is the subject of intense speculation.

"No. I didn't see anything like that," she said, adding that jurors did not bring up Ryan while deliberating for five full days and parts of two others.

For more than two months, the jurors dutifully reported to the Chicago federal courthouse for $40 a day. They hail from all over the area - Waukegan to Lemont, Chicago to Woodridge. All were barred from taking in news reports of the case or even discussing it with spouses. But they weren't oblivious to other big news. Pender, for example, said he was fully aware of the mounting tensions in Iraq.

Prosecutors acknowledged growing worried when jury deliberations dragged on. But jurors who spoke out Thursday said the length of time came from careful scrutiny of stacks of documents for each count, not from heated strife over guilt or innocence. Filipello did say the jury was not unanimous on any count from the start, and that she often was the holdout.

Things that stood out in the forewoman's mind, she said, were the evidence of Fawell selling low-digit license plates for campaign cash and the purchase with state money of an expensive shredder that was then used by the campaign.

"I don't think there was anger (at Fawell) per se," Pender said. "But you have to be careful with what you do for the people of Illinois. You can't mistreat them. You can't take things from them. You have to do things honestly. ... I think politics will probably change in the future. People will be a lot more careful."

Pender said jurors dismissed defense pleas that Fawell was innocent because such things have gone on in politics forever.

"The whole thing proved that just because something was going on for years and years, it doesn't make it right," she said.

Filipello said she was amazed at how cool Fawell, 45, stayed during the trial, and that she tried to believe he didn't do it.

"But I also am a realist," she said. "And I realize that people do make mistakes, and that we pay the price sometimes for those mistakes."