By AP/KWMU
Chicago – A government letter indicates former Illinois Governor George Ryan refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating corruption in state government.
Ryan's lawyers made the letter public by including it in pretrial motions filed Monday in federal court.
The letter says that Ryan asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he was subpoenaed.
Ryan was charged in December with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, tax fraud, filing false tax returns and making false statements as part of the government's six-year Operation Safe Road investigation.
He has pleaded innocent to all charges. And among the motions filed Monday was one seeking to have the racketeering charge against him dismissed.
Ryan's trial is scheduled for March of 2005.