Emptying of death row in Illinois stirs outrage

The Knox News Sentinel ^ | 1/12/03 | Don Babwin/AP

[GailA]

Emptying of death row in Illinois stirs outrage Action by governor inflames prosecutors, survivors of victims

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press January 12, 2003

CHICAGO - Calling the death penalty process "as capricious and arbitrary as who gets hit by a bolt of lightning," Republican Gov. George Ryan announced Saturday he was clearing Illinois' death row by commuting the death sentences of 156 condemned inmates, a move on a scale unprecedented in U.S. history.

Ryan's action, just two days before he leaves office, drew immediate angry reaction from prosecutors, the incoming governor and relatives of some of the victims.

Ryan said he sympathizes with the families of the men, women and children who were murdered, but he felt he had to act.

"I am not prepared to take the risk that we may execute an innocent person," he wrote in an overnight letter to the victims' families warning them of what he planned.

"Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error - error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die," Ryan said Saturday. "What effect was race having? What effect was poverty having?

"Because of all these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all death-row inmates."

All but three of the 156 inmates will now serve life in prison without possibility of parole. The three will get shorter sentences and could eventually be released from prison, though none will get out immediately.

Ryan had halted all executions in the state nearly three years earlier after courts found that 13 Illinois death-row inmates had been wrongly convicted since capital punishment resumed in 1977 - a period when 12 other inmates were executed.

He said studies conducted since that moratorium was issued had only raised more questions about the how the death penalty is imposed. He cited problems with trials, sentencing, the appeals process and the state's "spectacular failure" to reform the system.

"Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death," he said.

Other governors have issued similar moratoriums and commutations but nothing on the scale of what Ryan announced.

"The only other thing that would match what he's done is in 1972 (when) the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death penalty and 600 death sentences were reduced to life with that decision," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

The most recent blanket clemency came in 1986 when the governor of New Mexico commuted the death sentences of the state's five death-row inmates.

Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, who last year issued the country's only other moratorium on state executions, has no plans to pardon or commute the sentences of any death-row inmate before leaving office Wednesday, spokesman Chuck Porcari said.

Ryan chose Northwestern University - where journalism students investigating Illinois death-row cases helped exonerate some inmates - to publicly announce that he was commuting the 156 death sentences.

Corrections Department spokesman Sergio Molina said Ryan had signed commutation orders for 167 people - 156 on death row and the others in jails awaiting hearings or sentencings for other crimes.

Within a week the department will start moving prisoners out of the state's two condemned units" and into the general population of maximum-security prisons, Molina said.

Vern Fueling, whose son William was shot and killed in 1985 by a man now on death row, was outraged that the killer will be allowed to live.

"My son is in the ground for 17 years, and justice is not done," Fueling said. "This is like a mockery."

Incoming Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, also criticized Ryan's action, calling blanket clemency "a big mistake." Each case should be reviewed individually, Blagojevich said. "You're talking about people who've committed murder."

Ryan on Friday went a step farther in four other death-row cases, issuing pardons for four men he said had been tortured by police into making false confessions.

A few hours later, Aaron Patterson, 38, walked out of prison a free man and ate his first steak dinner in 17 years, while Madison Hobley and Leroy Orange spent time with their families.

Stanley Howard, 40, the fourth man pardoned Friday, remained in prison. He had also been convicted of a separate crime for which he is still serving time. All four had been convicted in murders.

"It's a dream come true, finally. Thank God that this day has finally come," said Hobley, 42, as he left the Pontiac Correctional Center Friday.

Looking a bit dazed, Orange, 52, walked out of Cook County Jail with his two daughters by his side.

"Thank you with all my heart and please do something for the remaining group on death row," he said, addressing Ryan.

Ryan announced the pardons Friday at DePaul University in the first of two speeches capping his three-year campaign to reform the state's capital-punishment system.

Patterson's mother, Jo Ann, said she was overwhelmed when she heard the news.

"I don't believe in miracles, but this is a miracle," she said.

Reaction to the pardons from death-penalty supporters was swift.

Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said the future of the four men should have been decided by the courts. His office is trying determine if the pardons could be challenged, but Devine said the clemency powers for an Illinois governor are among the broadest in the country.

"Instead, they were ripped away from (the courts) by a man who is a pharmacist by training and a politician by trade," he said. "Yes, the system is broken, and the governor broke it today."

Ollie Dodds, whose 34-year-old daughter, Johnnie Dodds, died in an apartment fire that Hobley was convicted of setting, said she was saddened by Ryan's decision.

"I don't know how he could do it. It's a hurting thing to hear him say something like that," she said, adding that she still believes Hobley is responsible.

"He doesn't deserve to be out there."

[hoosierskypilot]

".."Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death," he said."

Interesting summation. Since the "death penalty system" is part of their judicial system, Ryan's action is a scathing indictment of Illinois law and order. Either that or Ryan is stone nuts.

[GailA]

He's mental is all I can say, looney.

The Bible on the DP

Resource

Resource 2

[GailA]

I call it the INJUSTICE system. We didn't receive real justice. Most other cases similar to ours the creep got 30 years in their plea bargains. Now he will walk the streets again, with a 5th grade education as he has REFUSED to to attend any education classes.

[mvpel]

What are the benefits of killing someone in the name of the Almighty State versus sentencing them to life in prison without the possibility of parole?

[Kevin Curry]

What are the benefits of killing a person in a drug heist, or for a wallet, or just for the thrill of it?

You'll have plenty of time to find out now that Ryan has granted the perps a chance at life that they denied their victims. Go pick their brains as they lounge around at taxpayer expense, getting three squares a day, free medical care, access to weight rooms, cable TV etc.

[mvpel]

What are the benefits of killing a person in a drug heist, or for a wallet, or just for the thrill of it?

Again there's that parallel drawn between killing perpetrated by the government in the name of the Almighty State and killing perpetrated by murderous criminals in the name of evil. First Barnacle, and now you too.

If you object to the prison conditions that murderers are subjected to, that's fine, but it's not germane to the question of whether or not they should be killed as the ultimate expression of government force.

You raise "taxpayer expense," but I think it's been fairly well established that providing due process in death penalty cases costs more than warehousing murderers for the rest of their lives.

Some might argue that they get too many costly appeals, but lack of due process, judicial abuses, and corner-cutting is exactly what scuttled the Illinois death penalty.

[185JHP]

If the fear of death has no deterrent effect, why would Mafia thugs enter the Witness Security Program?

[mvpel]

If the fear of death has no deterrent effect, why would Mafia thugs enter the Witness Security Program? The Almighty State does not carry out its executions summarily and immediately including an element of surprise and sadism, unlike the Mafia.

[Charles Henrickson]

Shaming Governor Ryan (Caption these pics)

[supercat]

Some might argue that they get too many costly appeals, but lack of due process, judicial abuses, and corner-cutting is exactly what scuttled the Illinois death penalty.

Do the extra appeals have any useful function at acquitting those who turn out to be innocent?

If so, why are they not made available to those "merely" sentenced to life in prison, whose guilt is presumably less certain?

And if not, why bother with them at all?

[Barnacle]

What are the benefits of killing someone in the name of the Almighty State versus sentencing them to life in prison without the possibility of parole?

Almighty state? How about in the name of justice?

First, I believe those who are tried, convicted and sentenced to death under our judicial system have been given justice. There are exceptions, but you should not make laws based on exceptions to the rule. Further, provides justice for the victim of the murderer and his survivors.

Here’s an idea for you, why don’t you pose your question, face to face, to the survivors of the murder victims now that Gov. Ryan just took their murderess off death row? I’m sure you’d find some of them happy to talk to you.

Second, I’d rather see the limited resources of our taxpayer supported Government (and yes, contrary to popular belief, resources are limited) go toward training a doctor or preserving a natural area than keeping a vile and evil creature behind bars.

Third, contrary to what you probably believe, the death penalty is a deterrent to murder. If you have any doubt, look at this easy to understand graph. If you can’t see a cause and effect relationship, look at it again.

If you still can’t see a cause and effect relationship, look at it again.

Those murderers don’t want to die. The threat of death is all that keeps many from carrying out their heinous imaginings. In Illinois the worse they can now expect is three square meals a day in a climate-controlled environment, access to weight training and a library and television entertainment. They can even get illegal drugs behind bars.

There are cretins living such a miserable existence on the streets, they’d be happy to commit a crime just to get those benefits.

But, they don’t want to die.

Forth, I am subject to the same laws that I advocate applied to others. I’ll gladly take my chances of wrongful conviction as an individual, so that justice will be served for the many.

Now, if you’re going to try the old, “But, if it will save just one child.” logic. Save it. That logic (or lack there of) doesn’t work on me. When you’re saying, “But, if it will save just one brutal murderer.” It has even less appeal.

Here’s an idea, rather than make all of us pay to keep those animals alive, why don’t you start a volunteer fund for people who think like youYou can promote it like a membership to a local zoo. That way, you take the $30,000 per year burden of incarcerating a maximum-security prisoner off the backs of taxpayers.

Your friends can sponsor the brutal murderer of their choice. And, as long as they keep sending checks, he stays alive. Priority members even get visitation rights. You can get all warm and fuzzy with him. Become good friends, and he might even show you how to kill a man with a folded piece of paper.

Come on, you’ve got nothing to lose with your “morally superior” attitude. Put you money where your mouth is.

[Kevin Curry]

Of course, the only murderer that can't commit another is a dead one.

Jack Abbott comes to mind.

After the second murder, the leftist agitator and sometimes writer Norman Mailer should have been sent to prison with him.

[mikeb704]

Good riddance, George. Don’t let the door hit you.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

Mike Savage is floating the theory that Ryan did this to ingratiate himself to potential jurors in upcoming proceedings against Ryan himself.

[kidd]

I am generally against the death penalty - except for the case where an inmate cannot be controlled by the prison system. I wonder how many of these former death row inmates have committed murder in prison? How many of them have escaped or attempted escape from prison?

I think that it was irresponsible for Ryan to commute all sentences. He has put the prison population and guards at risk.

[GailA]

You will probably find your answer HERE it is the BJS recidivisim report 68% re-offend.

[WRhine]

Yes, that chart says it all Barnacle. Excellent post. I agree with those that say the motivation behind Ryan emptying death row was to generate some jury/media sympathy for him when he is put on trial for the licenses for bribes scandal. Ryan is truly the republican version of Bill Clinton. A person completely devoid of character; a criminal through and through.

Regarding the controversy surrounding the death penalty, much like the issue of abortion, this will be a contentious issue for many years to come. And it doesn't help that there is a certain political dynamic involved. Sigh, well, you know what I'm talking about...I'm talking about peeplow.

[185JHP]

Excellence in posting. Most criminals don't want to die - it's why beasts like the Gravano enter Witness Protection - they don't want other criminals to whack them!

[Barnacle]

Thanks. I appreciate it. You know, it sometimes feels that I’m sailing up-river on this site.

As to your point; an hour ago on TV, there was an interview with the Prison Chaplain of Sing Sing. He said the toughest prison thugs always fall to pieces on their final march to the death chamber.

[Barnacle]

Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. LOL LOL LOL

SOS I can’t stop LOL