I’ve always felt that one of the strengths I’ve had over the years is being able to communicate with jurors in straightforward, simple, understandable terms. I grew up in a very simple, straightforward world.

He doesn’t own stock. He doesn’t own bonds. He doesn’t have a vacation house. If the government had evidence he’s accumulated wealth you would have heard about it at this trial.

George Ryan is not getting into the details. He didn’t approve any contract or lease until the proper people said go ahead and approve it.

This is going to be a long trial. It’s going to last several months. One thing I’m confident of is at the end of the day, after the jury’s heard all of the evidence, they...

Those were huge positives throughout the season and then going three games into the state tournament, that’s big, too.

That is basically the 100-pound gorilla sitting in the courtroom that the government doesn’t want to admit exists.

This is a verdict in favor of no one and it will not have any practical impact on Philip Morris and its employees.

Now, I know this is going to be a long trial, and I’ve talked to George Ryan about how we want to proceed. He and I have decided that we are going to try this...

No witness testified that he ever gave George Ryan any financial or personal benefit for the purpose of influencing his official decisions.

He (Fawell) felt the government had just put a foot on his throat.

There is no evidence that Ron Swanson ever gave George Ryan anything of value to influence any decisions he made.

You’re wrong. He is going to trial, and I absolutely believe that he is innocent.

George Ryan is my last witness — we want to get everything done before George Ryan takes the stand.

He will not be testifying in this case and that is his final decision.

If this verdict ever becomes final, I can guarantee that all five of these companies will go out of business.

This is unfolding as we speak.

There are some people who believe that things like presumption of innocence are kind of legal technicalities and aren’t really important.

You want to know something? There isn’t a single witness in this case that testified – not a single one – that said he gave any corrupt benefits to George Ryan – ever.

(Prosecutor Joel) Levin said whether he was getting any money or not was just the icing on the cake. I say that it is the cake.

There’s 13 teams left in Division I in New York state, and we’re one of them.

I expect him to testify. It’s my belief and my expectation that he will testify.

The non-settling states have completely failed to prove their case.

We are going to begin working immediately on post-trial motions to get this verdict overturned.

There’s no doubt that George Ryan was a politician. He lived in the imperfect world of politics.

George Ryan didn’t approve any one of these contracts and leases until he got an actual recommendation from the professional people in the secretary of state’s office.

The department heads, they decided whether they liked it, that was their job.

It’s a place to slow down, relax, forget about your job for a while.

It’s a good possibility that the emotional rollercoaster ride of winning the sectionals and then losing to Aquinas (in a state qualifier Tuesday) to bring us to this point, maybe the guys were a little...

The government keeps changing its remedies on a day-to-day basis.

Absolutely we were playing with fire. It was the third game in a row where we played terribly in the first period, gave up the lead and had to dig out of a hole. Sooner...

I don’t know of a single witness in this so-called corruption trial that’s going to say there was a corrupt payment to George Ryan. No one got cheated out of anything. The contracts were good...

The state of Illinois didn’t get cheated out of anything. Providing benefits to supporters is part of politics and is not a crime.

Nobody testified in this courtroom that George Ryan got any money, let alone to influence his official acts.

We’ll have witnesses ready to go Wednesday afternoon.

Not only does no one say it happened, you have witnesses saying it didn’t happen.

That’s a huge problem for the government; they don’t have a witness.

We will begin working immediately on post-trial motions to try to get this verdict overturned.

George Ryan would no more know what the value of real estate is in Bellwood than he could walk on the moon.

My client is likely to take the stand, although I will make that decision at the time.

In every one of these contracts, the low bidder got the contract. George Ryan did absolutely nothing to interfere with these contracts.

One thing I’m confident of is that, at the end of the day, after the jury’s heard all of the evidence, they will find and see that George Ryan is not guilty of all charges...

These are very serious charges. What (Ryan) has at stake is his freedom, his reputation and his financial future.

Is George Ryan perfect? No. He’s grown up in the rough-and-tumble world of politics in Illinois, and he’s not perfect.

There is no rule that politicians can’t have friends. They want this man to become a convicted felon and his life destroyed because he had friendships.

I believe this juror has been dishonest.

I think she’s being as sincere and honest as a human being can be.