Rezko jurors' identities secret

The corruption trial of Democratic political insider Antoin "Tony" Rezko begins Thursday morning. The members of the jury and the alternates have been selected, and at least for now, their identities are being kept secret, on the orders of Judge Amy St. Eve.

Not too much should be read into this--the judge is probably keeping their identities unknown to prevent the media from looking into the backgrounds of the panel members.

Two years ago, without looking too hard, the Chicago Tribune was able to discover that one of the jurors for the trial of former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan had a criminal background. Of course that begs the question why a newspaper, not the federal government found that out, but the Tribune, or any other media outlet, won't have the opportunity to embarrass the feds this time around.

Technorati tags: politics Illinois Democrats Chicago Tony Rezko corruption law Media George Ryan Illinois Politics