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Life's quest Former Gov. George Ryan continues to push for end of death penalty
Peoria Journal-Star ^ | August 15, 2004 | Clare Howard

Posted on 08/15/2004 7:29:46 PM PDT by Graybeard58

He's looking more rested. He's focused. He's still gruff and prickly.

He's still consumed with murder ... with the names, dates, images, emotions and grisly details of the deaths of hundreds of children and adults.

That's the life sentence for former Gov. George Ryan.

No clemency. No commutation. No parole. For him, it's self-imposed.

At 70, Ryan devotes nearly all his time to advocacy for abolition of the death penalty. A lifelong Republican, Ryan knows full well how unpopular his position is. Despite that, he expects to spend the rest of his life pushing for reform.

His metamorphosis from law-and-order death penalty advocate to abolitionist is itself a tortured tale.

Ryan grew up in Kankakee, white and middle class. He met Lura Lynn Lowe when they were both high school freshmen at Kankakee High School. He became a pharmacist. The couple had six children.

Ryan's first brush with capital punishment came in 1987, when a close family friend and neighbor, Stephen Small, was kidnapped, held for $1 million ransom, buried alive and killed. Daniel Edwards was sentenced to death for the crime. Justice, Ryan felt, never dreaming it would become his personal moral burden within 14 years.

With that exception, Ryan, like most Americans, had virtually no direct contact with the death penalty until he moved into the Executive Mansion in Springfield. Then, with the moral responsibility to grant or deny clemency, the onus of death invaded his life.

Son George Ryan Jr. remembers the Thanksgiving weekend in the Executive Mansion when

his father was engrossed in death sentence case studies.

"He read through them all," his son recalled. "It sickens me to hear people say this is political. In the end, there is just one question. Do we want to be a nation that kills people?"

Ryan remains the lone governor in U.S. history granting commutations for 167 pending death penalty sentences, ordering those prisoners transferred to life in prison without parole. He seeks a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.

His transformation from supporter to opponent of the death penalty is the subject of an independently produced documentary "Deadline" that aired nationwide last month on "Dateline NBC."

During a two-hour interview last week at his son's insurance agency in Bourbonnais, Ryan said he knew commutation was not a smart political move. He knew President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft were strong supporters of the death penalty. He knew the majority of Americans favor the death penalty.

Education, Ryan contends, will change those odds.

At one point during the interview, he spread his thick hands over the desk, leaned forward and said with articulation resonating with clarity, "I did not pick this issue. I did not choose this."

Later he said, "It was my obligation as a public official. Now it is my responsibility. I do not view this as a burden. It's a task. It's a teaching process. I have firsthand knowledge, and I feel an obligation to help educate."

Since leaving office 19 months ago, Ryan has traveled to Europe three times speaking on abolition of the death penalty. He's traveled across America, speaking at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Pepperdine, UCLA, Boston College. He spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva in April.

His advocacy continues despite a 22-count indictment filed against him in December charging him with racketeering, corruption and tax fraud.

"Clear-cut retaliation," said University of Illinois law professor Francis Boyle, who nominated Ryan for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 and again in 2004. A decision on the 2004 award is expected Oct. 15.

"I believe this is clear-cut retaliation for his courageous stand on the death penalty in Illinois. Bush and Ashcroft support and want to expand the death penalty. When the federal government goes after you, it's an awesome experience. I know what happens."

Boyle said he has offered to appear as a character witness in support of Ryan.

"I have nominated him two times for the Nobel Peace Prize. If the Nobel committee believes it's time to abolish the death penalty, then they must give the award to George Ryan," Boyle said. "The indictments allege he purloined $167,000. That equals $1,000 per person he saved. That shows how little they value human life. Over two-thirds of the people on death row are people of color. The system is shot through with racism and favors the wealthy. We can't have this in the Land of Lincoln. We're better than that."

Ryan declines to talk about the indictments and continues to accept speaking invitations in exchange for expenses and sometimes a small honorarium.

He usually asks his audiences if anyone knows someone on death row. Rarely is a white hand raised in response. Familiarity usually is limited to minorities in the audience, he said.

"That's because the death penalty is applied inconsistently. It's racist," he said, noting also that false convictions are more common than most people suspect.

He said even DNA is not 100 percent reliable because of human error, sloppy lab procedures and perjured testimony. Geography also plays a role, with some prosecutors more ready to seek the death penalty than others.

"The United States is third behind China and Iran in executions. Not very good company," Ryan said. "Do we really want to be a country that kills people? Do we really want to kill the mentally ill?"

If Ryan has changed his position at all in the months since leaving office, it's only to become more convinced that on this issue, America is out of sync with the rest of the civilized world.

"Look," he snapped at one point during the interview. "If you think life in prison is a country club, if you think it's easier than the death penalty, just spend a weekend in a 6-by-10 (foot) cell. You'll change your mind pretty fast. Talk with a few inmates who will think about their crimes for the rest of their lives."

For people who object to the cost of life in prison, Ryan points out that the death penalty is far more costly and fails as a deterrent. For people who object to medical care for people in prison, Ryan suggests perhaps the system should be changed to help victims cope with the cost of their medical treatment.

For those who contend executions offer closure for the families of victims, Ryan says, "I don't know what closure means. There will never be closure. Every day. Every birthday. Every Thanksgiving."

He also takes issue with the concept of more humane executions because of the use of lethal injections:

"Think of the evolution of the death penalty. No hanging. No shooting. No electrocution. That makes it more culturally acceptable? A prisoner injected with a drug before a theater of witnesses ... So there is no blood, no catching on fire, no feet dangling and twitching. Then society thinks it's not too bad?"

Ryan also faults the concept that some crimes are so heinous, only the death penalty will suffice.

"Out of respect to the loved one, families do not want anything less than the law allows. If that is life in prison without parole, that is what families need," he said.

Most troubling to Ryan is the number of false convictions. In one Illinois study of 25 people on death row, 12 were shown to be falsely convicted.

"I do not think Illinois is any worse than the rest of the states," he said.

At one point, Ryan said he sounded "like a flaming liberal."

Later he said, "This is not a liberal versus conservative issue. This is a human rights issue. ... I'm still a conservative, but as governor you look at things differently. You look at things with an open mind."

Ryan said the number of false convictions likely is larger than has been reported.

"Once a prisoner is killed, all efforts stop," he said, explaining that the statistics might even be worse than a 50 percent accuracy rate.

"Would you fly on an airline with a 50 percent safety record?" he said.

Even a major overhaul of the system will not make him an advocate of capital punishment. No measure of error is acceptable to him when death is the result.

Ryan said he had not planned to grant every person on death row in Illinois a commuted sentence to life in prison, but as his final days in office drew close, his frustrations grew.

After three years of study and a list of recommendations by his specially appointed Commission on Capital Punishment, not one recommendation was enacted.

"Not one. It was all held up in the Senate. Was I going to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life? I didn't want to do that. The system was imperfect," he said, explaining the blanket commutation he announced days before leaving office.

Included in that act was the convicted murder of Ryan family friend Steven Small.

Ryan said his wife of 48 years had progressed with him through his transformation to abolitionist, but this case was a struggle.

"God willing, I will keep at this. Unless I'm somewhere in a nursing home," he said. "There's only so much golf you can play."

In one sense at least, time is on his side.

"The next generation will change," he said. "They next generation will vote on this issue."

When "Deadline" was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, Ryan and his wife drove out for the airing.

They took clothing for six days, but they spent two months on the trip.

"Seventeen states and 9,000 miles," he said. "We had a great time."

Most travel these days is related to death penalty issues.

"When I'm asked to speak, I usually say yes. If my health holds up and the Lord is willing, I'll continue," he said. "I will never get away from this. I have accepted that."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: georgeryan

1 posted on 08/15/2004 7:29:46 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Graybeard58

What, no barf alert?

Another corrupt pol, seeking to hide his sin under an umbrella of enlighted do-gooding and/or victimhood. Maybe he can do a world tour (bi-partisan!) with our own Gov. McSleezy (as the kid dubbed him today.) McSleezy will be available 11/15, or hopefully sooner.


2 posted on 08/15/2004 7:34:06 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: Graybeard58

Well, he'll have the rest of his life to spend with convicts, up close and personal.


3 posted on 08/15/2004 7:39:02 PM PDT by RWR8189 (Its Morning in America Again!)
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To: Graybeard58; AuH2ORepublican; JohnnyZ; Kuksool; Impy; Dan from Michigan
"He's still consumed with murder ..."

Indeed, the blood of the state GOP is all over his hands.

4 posted on 08/15/2004 7:43:02 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (*Barack Obama ~ Just Another Liberal Honkey With A Tan*)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

The IL GOP is a source for bad comedy.


5 posted on 08/15/2004 8:44:55 PM PDT by Kuksool (Get Your Souls To The Polls In November)
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To: Graybeard58

Boy he must be brilliant. He's smarter than all those judges, juries, state legislatures, advisors, etc., etc. that convicted all those killers. Don't you love these one-man dictators that just overthrow convictions so casually? What he really did was turn loose 167 killers on society. I wonder how many more deaths will result from his action?


6 posted on 08/15/2004 10:04:18 PM PDT by holyscroller
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To: holyscroller
What he really did was turn loose 167 killers on society.

granting commutations for 167 pending death penalty sentences, ordering those prisoners transferred to life in prison without parole.

7 posted on 08/15/2004 10:08:53 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: jocon307
Another corrupt pol, seeking to hide his sin under an umbrella of enlighted do-gooding and/or victimhood.

Liberals believe that forgiveness is divine--especially forgiveness by people who have no real authority to issue it.

This is somewhat related to the notion that wanting other's money is proper but wanting to keep one's own is selfish.

8 posted on 08/16/2004 4:20:56 PM PDT by supercat (If Kerry becomes President, nothing bad will happen for which he won't have an excuse.)
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