David McByrd
“I agree with the decision to convict George Ryan because corruption starts at the top. There has been corruption all under the bottom so if it is at the bottom, of course George Ryan knew what was going on all along.”
Raven Brown
“I want to know why didn’t the other person who was thrown off come forward and speak out like the other lady (Ms. Ezell). They talked about her, she said, with all that negativity. She said if she were there she would have a different verdict. Why didn’t the other juror come forward and back up her story of what the other jurors said about her. I think they are going to throw this out. Now they are checking out all the jurors. They should have done this before the trial began. They should have checked their backgrounds out before the trial begun to see if they had any kind of convictions. Why, now all of a sudden, do they want to check the jurors out to see if anything was illegal? So that right there is going to be Ryan’s defense, and they are going to overturn his conviction.”
Shelley Miller Jr.
“I disagree with the jury’s verdict regarding ex-governor Ryan. In my opinion I believe the jury was bias because he pardoned some and commuted some of the inmates sentence on death row. The majority of those on death row were African- Americans. I believe that the majority on that jury was against George Ryan’s decision for commuting the sentence of the majority of African-Americans on death row. I truly believe it. They also were in violation of the law and constitution themselves. Many of them were involved in criminal activities themselves. They lied and that’s the very reason why the Appellate Court or State Supreme Court should vacate that sentence, and find that man innocent of all charges. Let him go. I’m an African-American man and I love the Caucasian man Mr. George Ryan He did a humanitarian deed. This is a crooked judicial system that got him on trial, now we should put the crooked judicial system on trial.”
Scherell Crockett
“I disagree with the verdict. Most blacks in our community nowadays are charged with a lot of things that they didn’t do, and I think it’s wrong for the black community to be put down more then the white community. George Ryan is in trouble because he took blacks off death row. There is not enough information being put into the black community. Therefore, most black people don’t have a chance. And we don’t have anybody to speak up for us. Anybody who speaks up for us will go to jail or get in some type of trouble.”
Kim Sanders
“No, I don’t think they gave Gov. Ryan a chance because they should have investigated all the jurors before they went to trial. Who knows what his staff was doing. Not even Gov. Ryan knew what they were doing. It could have been me and someone could have said here’s some money and I give them some licenses not knowing the boss will get in trouble. Looks like every time help comes to the black community something happens. Everybody that helps black people ?” they either die, get put out of office or go to jail.”
LaToya Sanders
“Well, I don’t think he got a fair trial either, but what I do know is that everybody is crooked. The police were crooked, the jury was crooked, and the judge was crooked. Somebody help us, that’s all I got to say.”
Vonetta McGee
“I feel like he didn’t get a fair trial. They don’t even know all the points. They might have certain points, but a lot of things could be locked in the closet while they are trying to lock this man up. People can say one thing, but that’s not what’s down in black in white. I don’t think he’s going to jail. They will probably appeal and appeal, then he’ll be given probation or something. He’s too old, although if he were black and old, he would go to jail. There’s always an advantage to being white in America.”
