Illinois Senate Votes To Abolish Death Penalty

Ten years after former Gov. George Ryan placed a moratorium on the practice of capital punishment, Illinois lawmakers have voted to abolish the death penalty in the Land of Lincoln.

The State Senate followed the lead of the House and approved the bill (SB 3539) by a 32-25 margin this afternoon. The legislation, if signed, would end the practice and redirect money the state pays in death row prosecution and defense fees ($100 million in the past seven years alone) to support law enforcement training and programs for the families of murder victims. It now heads to Gov. Pat Quinn, where it faces an uncertain future.

Since 1977, 13 Illinois men since have been exonerated for murders they did no commit; several investigations found that dubious evidence, racial discrimination, and prosecutorial misconduct tainted many of those cases. The use of the death penalty is declining nationwide. Fifteen other states do not sentence criminals to death.

Here's a statement from the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty:

“Lawmakers clearly understood the death penalty is broken beyond repair in Illinois and must end now. They should be applauded for realizing that this system is wrong and can’t be fixed – now and going forward. Now we call on Gov. Pat Quinn to embrace this measure and agree that Illinois is much better off without the death penalty,” said Jeremy Schroeder, executive director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Source: Progress Illinois, January 11, 2011


Illinois death penalty ban sent to Gov. Pat Quinn

A historic measure to abolish the death penalty in Illinois passed the state Senate today after nearly two hours of impassioned debate.

The ban on executions goes to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who must sign the legislation for it to become law. During last fall's campaign, Quinn said he supports "capital punishment when applied carefully and fairly," but also backs the 10-year-old moratorium on executions.

The Senate voted 32-25 to approve the ban, with 2 members voting present. The measure passed the House last week.

Sponsoring Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, urged his colleagues to "join the civilized world" and end the death penalty in Illinois.

Raoul spoke of how authorities were certain when they prosecuted Jerry Hobbs and Kevin Fox for killing their own little girls. Both confessed under coercion and both were exonerated by DNA evidence. The senator spoke of is 10-year-old daughter and how he could not imagine what a wrongly accused father would go through.

Illinois "ought to be embarrassed" by its track record of wrongful convictions, Raoul said, "because if an execution were to take place, it takes place in the name of the people of Illinois."

Sen. John Millner, R-Carol Stream, a former Elmhurst police chief with experience of interviewing more than 1,000 defendants, called for making more reforms to the system before eliminating the death penalty. He also called for more training of police officers, including how to avoid false confessions.

"I ask you all, please," Millner said, to consider a crime victim's families.

Sen. Willie Delgado, D-Chicago, a former parole agent, cited how he worked in the attorney general's office when the wrongful convictions of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez were examined.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the system is broken," Delgado said. He maintained "death is too good for some folks" and said they should be allowed to sit in prison for natural life, where they can "rot and think about what they have done."

Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican who worked on death penalty reforms now in place, said the people of his district believe in executions for mass murderers and killers of police, prison guards and children.

"I think there's still a place for the death penalty for the worst of the worst of our society," Dillard said.

Dillard and Sen. Bill Haine, an Alton Democrat and former Madison County state's attorney, called for putting the question before Illinois citizens.

But Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, said lawmakers are elected to make the tough decisions, and she called on colleagues said Illinois should break company with Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq, Congo, Saudi Arabia and other countries that allow the death penalty.

"We're here because we've seen countless examples of the fact that the system has failed," Hutchinson said. "This question is not about the people who we know did it. It's about the people who were convicted who didn't. It's about our system of justice is actually predicated upon the protection of the innocent and executing one innocent person is too high a price to pay."

Sen. Dan Duffy, R-Lake Barrington, argued that 20 people sent to death row in Illinois have been exonerated and the taxpayer costs have been too great to be left with an ineffective and expensive use of scarce resources.

"What we have learned after all this time is that the system cannot be fixed," Duffy said.

Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, said he has long prayed over the death penalty issue but that the system in Illinois "is not marginally flawed. It is irretrievable broken."

The action comes 10 years after then-Gov. George Ryan placed a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois following revelations that several people sent to death row were later exonerated.

Quinn has not said whether he would sign the ban, but during last year's campaign said the moratorium should stay in place to see whether reforms have worked.

Gordon "Randy" Steidl, who spent 17 years in prison, including 12 on death row, after he was wrongfully convicted of a 1986 double-murder, pleaded with the committee to end a death penalty system in Illinois that could have had him executed.

"How can you possibly give the power of life and death to a prosecutor, who even if he does everything correctly, there's still that possibility that you're going to strap an innocent person to a gurney?" Steidl said. "And we know we have in this country, we know we have executed innocent people in the past. The problem is, after they're executed, the state no longer cares. The evidence is there, we have an alternative, and that's life without parole and we do not risk the possiibility of executing an innocent person. Because you know sooner or later if we have this system we will."

The panel voted in favor of the proposal despite concerns raised by opponents who cited the need for the death penalty to be in place. They pointed to the shooting of a congresswoman in Arizona over the weekend and murder of six people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl. The vote in Springfield also comes against the backdrop of six Chicago policemen killed over the last year.

Sen. William Haine, a former Madison County state's attorney, argued fervently to keep the death penalty in place.

"To call for perfection necessarily involves speculation about a future faulty case." Haine argued. "We have in our hands 15 cases of the worst on death row now. 15 muderers, that's not speculation. The people of Illinois should be a part of this and we should not be removing what they believe is justice."

Sponsoring Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, said he has confidence that Quinn will come around and sign the bill once he hears from Steidl and other wrongfully convicted former death row inmates.

Outside of the hearing room, Raoul choked up and his eyes welled up as he talked about the historic breadth of the legislation, particularly in a state where unethical means have been used to squeeze defendants into false confessions.

"It's an emotional debate," Raoul said, his voice breaking as he took several seconds to gather himself. "I talk to my kids and their friends in their school about this. My kids attend Catholic school, and they get their values-based education, and they understand it better than some adults do."

35 states now have the death penalty, and Illinois would become the 16th state to not have the death penalty if Illinois approved abolishing it. 3 other states - New York, New Jersey and New Mexico - have eliminated the death penalty in recent years, according to the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Before last week, no abolition legislation had passed either house in Illinois since executions were reinstated in 1977. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down death penalty guidelines in 40 states, including Illinois, in 1972.

Support for abolishing executions in Illinois has grown since Ryan declared the moratorium. His action followed a Tribune series that pointed out flaws and inequities in the prosecution and defense of Illinoisans facing a death sentence and the exoneration of several people placed on death row.

Illinois followed up with a number of steps to reform the death penalty process, including taping interrogations under a proposal forged by President Barack Obama when he served in the Illinois Senate. More money was made available to help provide resources to beef up the defense of alleged offenders in death penalty cases, but the millions of dollars being spent raised additional questions.

Only days before he left office in January 2003, Ryan granted clemency to 164 death row inmates even though sources on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board said the panel recommended clemency for no more than 10.

There are 15 people on death row in Illinois, officials said.

Source: Chicago Tribune, January 11, 2011


Illinois Poised to Become 16th State to Ban Capital Punishment

WASHINGTON, DC – The Illinois Senate today joined the House in voting to repeal the state’s death penalty and re-allocate funds remaining in the Capital Litigation Trust Fund to a fund for murder victims' services and law enforcement. If signed into law, Illinois would become the 16th state to abandon capital punishment and would mark the fewest states with the death penalty since 1978. The bill must be signed by Governor Pat Quinn in order to become law.

"This vote demonstrates a growing concern about the death penalty and public willingness to replace this punishment with alternative sentences," said Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "The problems of the death penalty are not unique to Illinois. Widespread frustration with capital punishment and its high costs have led to a sharp decline in its use."

Since 1976, Illinois has carried out 12 executions. In the same period, 20 inmates have been exonerated from the state's death row, the 2nd highest number in the United States. The state has not had an execution since 1999, the year before former Republican Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions after a series of exonerations exposed flaws in the system. In 2003, Governor Ryan issued a blanket commutation, reducing the sentences of 167 death row inmates to life and pardoning four inmates. Since then, use of the death penalty has declined sharply in Illinois. In the 1990s, the state averaged over 10 death sentences a year. In 2009 and 2010, the state imposed only one death sentence each year.

Many murder victims’ families were among the strongest supporters of the repeal bill. In a letter to the Illinois General Assembly, murder victims‘ families and friends said, "A legal system that wasn't bogged down with committing tremendous resources on capital cases could prosecute and sentence countless other crimes and take dangerous people off the streets before they commit murder. Dollars saved could be put toward counseling for victims of crime or other services we desperately need as we attempt to get on with our lives." The letter was signed by more than 20 individuals who had loved ones murdered in Illinois.

The high cost of the death penalty was a concern highlighted in the legislative debate. Since 2003, the state has spent over $100 million on the Capital Litigation Trust Fund, a sum that represents only a portion of the costs associated with implementing the death penalty in Illinois.

The Illinois vote is in line with a broader trend away from the death penalty around the country:

* New Mexico and New Jersey recently voted to abolish the death penalty in 2009 and 2007, respectively. Many other state legislatures have considered bills to abolish the death penalty.

* New York's death penalty law was declared unconstitutional in 2004. Since then the legislature has repeatedly rejected attempts to reinstate capital punishment.

* Death sentences in the United States have dropped by over 60% since the mid-90s. Even in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, death sentences have declined significantly during the past decade. Executions have also dropped sharply.

For more information on the Illinois repeal bill, contact Jeremy Schroeder, Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, at (312) 673-3816 or jeremy@icadp.org.

Source: Death Penalty Information Center, January 11, 2011

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"Repealing death penalty is the right thing to do": police chief

As a police chief with more than 40 years of law enforcement experience, I commend the Illinois House of Representatives for passing SB 3539 to repeal the death penalty. This is a bill that is a long time in the making, and deals with an issue I have long worked on and struggled with. As former President of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and former President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, I have worked with National organizations to devise reforms to make the death penalty effective and fair. However, after watching Illinois attempt reforms for nearly 11 years, it is clear to me we cannot get the death penalty right. There will always be the possibility of executing an innocent person; there will always be a tremendously long trial that subjects victims' families to an excruciating process; and there will always be tremendous costs involved. All of this might be justified if the death penalty was a deterrent or helpful law enforcement tool in any way, but this is not the case. My professional experience has shown that the death penalty does nothing to keep us safe, and my colleagues confirmed this in a 2009 national poll of police chiefs in which the death penalty was ranked the least effective tool for deterring violent crime.

I am grateful that SB 3539 not only gets rid of a system that has proven itself too flawed to fix, but that also puts the savings from the death penalty where they are desperately needed: law enforcement training. The best thing we can do to ensure the safety of our communities and men and women in uniform is to see that law enforcement have the resources and training they need to do their job well. SB 3539 does just that. I am proud that Illinois is taking a step away from pouring a disproportionate amount of time and money into a few capital cases, and moving toward ensuring all law enforcement have the resources they need. This bill is not just tough on crime, it's also smart on crime.

Chief Charles A. Gruber, St. Charles
Source: Letter to the Editor, Chicago Tribune, January 9, 2011

January 6, 2011: Illinois House voted to abolish the death penalty

Late Thursday afternoon, the House voted 59-58 against SB3539, a bill to repeal the death penalty and use the money saved to assist victims' families and improve law enforcement, 1 vote short of passing the proposal. 1 representative, Rosemary Mulligan (R-Des Plaines) did not vote at the time. But the chief sponsor, Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) used a parliamentary maneuver to pull the bill from the House floor to allow for a second vote and less than two hours later, the House approved the measure 60-54.

The measure now goes to the Senate for a vote. If the bill is approved in the state senate it still must go to Governor Pat Quinn, who has said he continues to favor the death penalty for the worst crimes, according to local media reports.

During a lengthy debate on the House floor, supporters said the death penalty needs to be abolished because too many innocent people have been sent to death row. Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago), who said she has long been a staunch supporter of capital punishment, said she believes the death penalty should end because courts cannot correct a mistake if an innocent person is put to death. "I could administer the death penalty myself to a cop killer or a baby killer without remorse," Mendoza said. "But this debate for me is no longer about whether guilty killers deserve to die for their crimes. They do deserve to die." However, Mendoza added that, "we must accept the possibility of executing an innocent person and I'm not okay with that. None of us should be okay with that. … I can no longer stomach the idea of executing a potentially innocent person in order to make sure the guilty pay for their crimes." 

Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), a former prosecutor, said he believes death penalty reforms have worked to ensure a fair trial in capital cases. "I am confident that these individuals were given more than due process. They were given super-process," Durkin said. "We need to let this process work its way through the course."

But supporters of repealing capital punishment said that numerous studies have showed that the death penalty is applied randomly across the state and that minorities and poor defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death than whites and the affluent. "The decision to have the death penalty in one case and not another, that is a random decision in the state of Illinois," House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) said. "That is no way to run a criminal justice system." Currie also noted that studies have shown that the death penalty has not served as a deterrent to violent crime.

Former Gov. George Ryan instituted a moratorium on executions in Illinois in 2000 after 13 Death Row inmates were exonerated and no death row inmates have been executed since then. Ryan is serving a 6-1/2 year sentence in federal prison for corruption charges and is trying to get an early release or temporary furlough in order to visit his wife, Lura Lynn Ryan, who has been hospitalized with a severe infection. Doctors have said she likely has, at best, 2 weeks to live.

Source: CBS News, January 6, 2011