Illinois governor imposes death penalty
moratorium
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
Special to the National Catholic Reporter
Acknowledging that the death penalty cannot always be carried out
infallibly, Gov. George Ryan called for a stay of executions in Illinois while
a specially appointed state commission is established to investigate capital
punishment procedures.
Illinois Republican governor, who favors the death penalty,
surprised many in and outside the state with his announcement in Chicago Jan.
31.
Ryan called for a moratorium citing grave concerns about our
states shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on
death row. He said that he could no longer support a system which,
in its administration, has proven so fraught with error and has come so close
to the ultimate nightmare, the states taking of innocent life.
Illinois has exonerated 13 men on death row, more than the 12
whose life it has taken since the Supreme Court re-instated the death penalty
in 1976.
Among the 13 inmates whose death sentences have been reversed --
all within the past six years -- the case of Anthony Porter drew close
attention. Held for 15 years on death row, Porter came within two days of being
executed when journalism students at Northwestern University in Evanston helped
to prove his innocence.
Novelist and Chicago lawyer Scott Turow uncovered new evidence
that led to the exoneration of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez. Both men
served more than a decade on death row for the wrongful conviction of the rape
and murder of a 10-year-old girl. In addition, five of the 13 men cleared were
exonerated by DNA testing that ruled them out as murderers.
Ryan pointed to a recent investigative report series in the
Chicago Tribune that studied 285 death sentence convictions. Of 260 that
were appealed, half have been overturned for new trials or sentencing hearings.
The Tribune found 30 cases in which death row inmates had been
represented by disbarred defense lawyers or those suspended from practice.
Prosecutorial misconduct, including the suppression of evidence, was a factor
in several other cases. In a further 40 cases, false testimony from unreliable
witnesses was used to convict and to condemn defendants.
A majority of Illinois 161 condemned men are black or
Latino. Of the states 12 executions -- 10 of them done on the watch of
former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar -- five involved the execution of black men.
In only three of the 12 executions were any of the murder victims black.
Some 4,000 of the states business and civic leaders called
for a moratorium late last month. Illinois Supreme Court Justice Moses Harrison
II has also voiced his support for a moratorium, as has Chicago Mayor Richard
M. Daley. The mayor, who served in the 1980s as Cook County states
attorney, prosecuted some of the death penalty cases that were later
reversed.
Besides Illinois, moratorium legislation, resolutions or
referendums are underway in at least 11 other of the 38 death penalty states:
Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.
National Catholic Reporter, February 11,
2000
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