Ex-Gov. Ryan seeks to be with dying wife

CHICAGO, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Jailed former Illinois Gov. George Ryan is seeking permission to spend days with his hospitalized dying wife and nights in a nearby county jail, lawyers said.

Lura Lynn Ryan, 76, has lung and other incurable cancers and was moved to intensive care in a Kankakee hospital Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Lawyers for her husband, also 76, filed a motion with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking that he be moved from a federal prison camp in Terre Haute, Ind., to the Kankakee County Jail so he could spend his wife's final days with her. The motion said after her death Ryan would return to the federal facility to serve out the balance of his sentence.

The former governor was convicted of racketeering and fraud charges in 2006 and entered the federal facility in November 2007 to serve a 6 1/2-year sentence.

Former Gov. Jim Thompson, a lawyer for Ryan, told the Tribune the appeals court had given federal prosecutors until Friday to present arguments.

On Dec. 21, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer denied a petition to release Ryan early to be with his wife, saying he had created his own troubles, the newspaper said.