EIGHT ANGRY WO/MEN

Sometimes events conspire in such a way that the Chicago Sun-Times outdoes The Onion and everyone else out there -- and all without trying.

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan recently became the latest state official to receive a felony conviction. You may know Ryan as the porcine but arguably noble Republican who enacted a moratorium on executions in Illinois during his final moments in office. Anyway, three jurors on his interminable corruption case were dismissed because they failed to 'fess up to past wrongdoings. But now the defense is crying foul about five other jurors. Apparently they've been just as corrupt as the gov. From today's paper (unfortunately the priceless mug shots are not included in the online version of the story):

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."


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Kind of makes you wonder what type of shenanigans the attorneys, not to mention the judge, the bailiffs, the artist-renderers and everyone else, have engaged in outside the courtroom....

Somethinks they doth protest too much.