By Jonathan Stempel
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on
Tuesday refused to hear former Illinois Governor George Ryan's
appeal of his conviction and 6 1/2-year prison sentence for
racketeering, fraud and other crimes involving kickbacks for
state contracts and property leases.
Since his 2005 conviction, Ryan had filed a variety of legal
challenges, most recently over the impact of a 2010 Supreme
Court decision involving former Enron Corp Chief Executive
Jeffrey Skilling.
In that case, the court held that only bribery and kickbacks
could be used to show "honest services" fraud.
Ryan contended that this decision meant that the jury
instructions in his own earlier trial were faulty, and that
prosecutors had failed to prove that he had taken bribes.
In August, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago
rejected his argument, saying there was a "strong sense" that
the jury "must have found bribery," and that any error in the
jury instructions was harmless.
The 7th Circuit had affirmed Ryan's conviction in 2011, but
the Supreme Court asked that it review that ruling in light of
the rationale of the Skilling case.
In his Supreme Court appeal, Ryan said the 7th Circuit
misinterpreted the Skilling decision, in concluding that a
public official like Ryan could engage in honest services
bribery if he had no intent at the time to take some official
action in return for the benefit.
Gene Schaerr, a lawyer for Ryan, declined to comment.
Ryan, 78, already has served most of his sentence, and is
scheduled to be released in July, according to the Federal
Bureau of Prisons' website.
The case is Ryan v. U.S., U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-779.
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