By AP/KWMU
Chicago, Ill. – Former Illinois Governor George Ryan is expected in court today (Tuesday) for the first time since federal prosecutors accused him of taking payoffs, gifts and vacations in return for letting associates profit from state contracts or leases while he was Secretary of State and then Governor.
The 69-year-old Kankakee native is expected to enter a plea of innocent during an arraignment hearing in Chicago.
A 22-count indictment charges Ryan with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, tax fraud, filing false tax returns and making false statements to agents investigating corruption while Ryan was secretary of state and governor.
Ryan's attorney has said he is confident his client "will be exonerated and a jury will find him not guilty of all charges."
Ryan is the 66th person charged in the investigation and the fourth former Illinois governor to be indicted by a federal grand jury in as many decades.
He became best known outside of Illinois for his criticism of the death penalty. Before he left office in 2001, he pardoned four death row prisoners and commuted the death sentences of the rest to life in prison.