Federal Court Denies Former Illinois Governor's Appeal

A federal court in Chicago has denied former Illinois Governor George Ryan's appeal seeking his release from prison.  The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 16-page ruling yesterday denying the 78-year-old Republican's appeal for release from the Indiana prison where he's serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption.  The appeal was widely seen as Ryan's last chance to get out of prison early. He’s due to be freed in mid-2013.  Last year, the same appeals court rejected arguments that Ryan's 2006 convictions should be tossed because prosecutors never proved he took a bribe.  But the U.S. Supreme Court took issue with how appellate judges reached their finding and ordered them to decide again.  The opinion yesterday says jurors clearly believed prosecutors proved Ryan took bribes.