Former Ill. Gov. Ryan to remain in prison

CHICAGO, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer Tuesday refused to release former Ill. Gov. George Ryan from prison early.

Ryan, 76, has served 3 years and one month of a 6 1/2-year sentence on federal corruption, mail fraud, bribery and racketeering convictions, but his lawyers filed motions seeking his early release because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting the federal "honest services" law.

Pallmeyer, who originally sentenced Ryan, denied Ryan's motion for early release and a second motion to set bail, WFLD-TV, Chicago, said.

Ryan's lawyers also cited the failing health of Ryan's wife, Lura Lynn, who has terminal cancer and was recently given just months to live.

"She's been very faithful in visiting him every weekend, whether she felt well or not," former Gov. James Thompson, whose law firm represents Ryan, told WLS-TV in a phone call from Paris. "Even with her 24-hour oxygen she's gone down there every weekend to see him, but she can no longer travel like that."

Ryan was lieutenant governor under Thompson, who said Tuesday's ruling was "plain wrong" and would be appealed immediately to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ryan is serving his sentence at a federal prison camp in Terre Haute, Ind.