Posted on 05/02/2025 1:50:27 PM PDT by Borges
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, disgraced by a corruption scandal that landed him in prison yet heralded by some for clearing the state’s death row, has died. He was 91.
Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner, a family friend, said Ryan died Friday afternoon at his home in Kankakee, where he was receiving hospice care.
Ryan started out a small-town pharmacist but wound up running one of the country’s largest states. Along the way, the tough-on-crime Republican experienced a conversion on the death penalty and won international praise by halting executions as governor and, eventually, emptying death row.
(Excerpt) Read more at news10.com ...
One of the few times I ever voted democrat. Glenn Poshard was way better than Ryan.
Illinois governors make Louisiana governors look like boy scouts.
This guy commuted some of the worst killer in Illinois history to curry favor cause he knew he was going to prison.
Absolute waste of flesh.
Proof that scumbaggery knows no party bounds
A poor governor for Illinois.
One of the women whose sentence he commuted killed a young girl by inflicting numerous stab wounds on her. The girl was simply at home but witnessed a drug deal at the house.
He didn’t pardon them for conscious or something he believed in, he did it to pander for a lighter sentence himself. I’m glad he is dead. Yes, I said it, and I mean it. Total filth of a human...
Doesn’t every Illinois Governor eventually wind up in prison?
Rod Blogovic, Otto Kerner, Dan Walker and George Ryan. Back then Illinois Governors were routinely jailed.
Same as Louisiana governors at one time...
Death row convicted killers “stayin’ alive”.
“The annual cost of housing a death row inmate in the United States is significantly higher than that of a general population inmate, ranging from approximately $60,000 to $149,000 per year. These higher costs are primarily due to increased security measures, specialized facilities, and additional staff required for death row, according to Interrogating Justice and a report from the Death Penalty Information Center.”
Plus not all stay-—some escape from prison.
A judge had decreed that Bundy didn’t need to wear leg shackles or handcuffs, and, as a law student, he was allowed to assist in his own defence, giving him access to the second floor law library of the Pitkin County Courthouse.
“I’d thought a great deal about escape, and I don’t know if I had the guts do it, quite frankly,” Bundy said.
When a guard went outside for a cigarette, though, with the windows open and fresh air blowing through, the killer took his chance.
“The sky was blue, and I said, ‘I’m ready to go’, and walked to the window and jumped out. Honest to god, I just got sick and tired of being locked up.”
It took 10 minutes for anyone to realise he’d escaped – and by then, Bundy had headed for the mountains of Aspen, the town reacting “as if Bundy were some sort of modern Robin Hood instead of a suspected mass murderer,” Nordheimer wrote.
“He crawled through the ducting just like in a movie,” said Browne.
Bundy dropped from the ducts into one of the guards’ apartments, changed into civilian clothes, and escaped into the night.
He was added to the FBI’s list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives – but it was too late.
After catching a flight, a train, and a bus, Bundy made his way to Tallahassee, Florida, where he committed his final string of murders – Margaret Bowman, 21, Lisa Levy, 20, and Kimberly Leach – who was just 12 years old.
A week later, he was arrested for the final time. And two jail breaks and more than 10 years later, Bundy was strapped into the electric chair at Florida State Prison on January 24, 1989, and in the early hours of the morning, he was pronounced dead.
Louisiana - Half under water, the other half under indictment
“Vote for the crook, it’s important!”
How long will it take Saint Peter to rummage through this guys resume ?
The Governor’s Suite at the federal pen?
Didn’t Jake Blues say, “I hate Illinois governors”?
Yeah I remember that one...and so true.
There was a person on death row for killing a pregnant woman and cutting her baby out. Because of him, she is no longer on death row.
Typically it is every other one.
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