Jim Ryan apologizes for wrongfully putting 2 men on Death Row in Nicarico killing

GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan issued his first outright apology Thursday for wrongfully putting two men on Death Row instead of prosecuting the real killer of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico.

DuPage County’s former top prosecutor made his statement after a jury Wednesday sentenced Brian Dugan to death for the Nicarico murder, which Ryan incorrectly had blamed on Rolando Cruz and Alex Hernandez. Both men were later exonerated.

“In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, prosecutors, detectives and police officers acted in good faith and still came up with the wrong result,” Ryan said. “In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, the system and I failed to achieve a just outcome. And for that I am sorry.”

Ryan, a former Illinois attorney general, went on to say that if elected governor, he would not lift the moratorium that former Gov. George Ryan imposed after commuting the sentences of 156 Death Row inmates to life in prison in one of his last acts in office during 2003.

“If I am elected governor, I will not lift the moratorium on capital punishment until we have created a more limited and accurate system of capital punishment,” Jim Ryan said. “While Illinois has made significant progress, other reforms have been left on the table, such as a reduction in the number of eligibility factors that trigger the death penalty.”

Jim Ryan’s stance on the moratorium puts him at odds with the rest of the GOP field for governor and drew condemnation from his one-time top aide in the state’s attorney’s office and the man who successfully prosecuted Dugan, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett.

“While I respect Jim Ryan, I strongly disagree with his announcement ... that if elected governor, he would not lift the moratorium on the death penalty,” Birkett said. “The moratorium put in place by former gov. George Ryan is legal fiction. The power to pardon, grant clemency or commutation should be used on a case by case basis as the framers of our constitution intended.”

Rob Warden of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions blasted Ryan's apology: "This is disingenuous, He's making this for some political reason. I think he realizes he can't be elected governor unless he apologizes. He is no more sincere than Dugan. I don't mean to equate what Ryan did with what Dugan did because Dugan committed 3 murders, Ryan only committed 3 attempted murders: Rolando Cruz; Alejandro Hernandez and Stephen Buckley. I think he should pull out of the race and turn his campaign fund into a benevolent fund for Cruz, Hernandez and Buckley."

Source: Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 12, 2009

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