MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A former state worker was being released from prison Thursday after an appeals court overturned her conviction on charges she steered a contract to a company that donated to Gov. Jim Doyle.

Listen to the arguments that freed Thompson

Read the statement from Georgia Thompson

Read the statement from Gov. Doyle on the acquittal

Read the press release from U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Georgia Thompson's convictions and ordered her immediate release from the Illinois prison she entered in November. The appeals court did not immediately issue a ruling explaining its decision.

Acting on the Chicago court's order, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa in Milwaukee ordered Thompson released on her own recognizance. His one-page order said she could move back to Wisconsin.

A judgment of acquittal will be stayed for 14 days to allow prosecutors to appeal but a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic in Milwaukee called an appeal unlikely.

Tammy Jones, spokeswoman for the prison in Pekin, Ill., said Thursday afternoon that Thompson "will be released shortly."

"We're just processing the paperwork and packing her stuff," she said.

Thompson, a former purchasing supervisor for the Department of Administration, was convicted of fraud charges last summer for steering a state travel contract to a company whose executives donated $20,000 to Doyle's re-election campaign.

Republicans repeatedly cited the case in television ads and on the campaign trail to question Doyle's ethics during last fall's campaign in which he defeated Republican Mark Green. But the governor said he never met Thompson and neither he nor his aides pressured her.

Prosecutors said Thompson rigged the bidding process to ensure a contract to book travel for state employees went to Adelman Travel Group.

The Glendale firm's CEO gave $10,000 to Doyle before and after winning the contract while a board member gave an additional $10,000. Prosecutors tried to paint a cozy relationship between Doyle's administration and Adelman that led to pressure on Thompson.

But Thompson maintained her innocence and that she was unaware of those ties. Her lawyers argued prosecutors based their case on speculation and lacked evidence that she was pressured to favor Adelman or that she personally gained from the transaction.

Randa had rejected her pleas to stay her 18-month prison sentence while she appealed the conviction returned by a federal jury last June. Until Thursday, Thompson had a projected release date of March 2008, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Jacobs, a spokeswoman for Biskupic, said a three-judge panel of the appeals court ordered her convictions vacated after hearing oral arguments in Chicago Thursday morning.

She called an appeal unlikely based on the nature of the court's questioning but said she could not say for certain until she sees its decision. She defended the decision to go after Thompson, who colleagues called a model civil servant.

"We convinced a grand jury to issue the indictment, we convinced a jury of 12 of her guilt, we had convinced Judge Randa of her guilt but we did not convince the appeals court," she said. "We respect the appeals court's decision and commend the work her lawyers did on appeal."

Thompson was accused of using her position on a seven-member committee that evaluated proposals for the contract worth up to $750,000 to book travel for state employees to ensure Adelman was the winner.

Other committee members testified they believed Omega World Travel was the clear winner after an initial evaluation showed the firm ahead of Adelman by 21 points on a 1,200-point scale.

They testified Thompson told them the contract needed to go to Adelman for unspecified political reasons and she pushed for a tiebreaker that ended with Adelman winning.

Prosecutors said she acted to make her bosses look good and to increase her own job security. But her lawyers said she had job protections as a civil servant and wasn't political.

Thompson testified that the tiebreaker, known as a best-and-final offer, is a routine step to drive down costs.


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