Jim Ryan takes brunt of hits in GOP debate

The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- Attorney General Jim Ryan took the brunt of the blows in an often testy debate between the three Republican candidates for governor Thursday, defending his prosecution of a death-row inmate who was later released and his absence from previous debates.

The most heated exchange during the three candidates' appearance on WTTW-TV's "Chicago Tonight" came when Ryan was asked about Rolando Cruz, who spent almost a decade on death row before he was acquitted at a third trial.

As DuPage County state's attorney, Ryan prosecuted Cruz for allegedly killing 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville. He has said repeatedly that he did what he thought was right based on the evidence. When Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood and state Sen. Patrick O'Malley challenged Ryan over his role in the case, he said neither of them had the law enforcement experience to judge his decision.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ryan," Wood injected, waving her finger at Ryan. "I'm a lawyer, you know I'm a lawyer, and it doesn't take a chicken to know how to smell a rotten egg."

"Rolando Cruz smells, and you know it," she said.

"You can point your finger all you want, you don't know what you're talking about," Ryan responded.

O'Malley jumped in a moment later, saying the Cruz case was a clear example of the justice system gone wrong.

"The bottom line is you do not have to be a prosecutor to know the difference between right and wrong," O'Malley said.