As Illinois Governor’s term ends, those on death row may find a ray of hope
Illinois Governor George Ryan made history in January 2000 when he made Illinois the first state in the country to halt executions while questions of fairness were studied. The study commission the Governor established completed its report earlier this year, recommending 85 sweeping reforms. So far, the legislature has refused to act on them. Now, just before he leaves office, Governor Ryan has the chance to make history again.
In March, Ryan insinuated that he would not exclude the possibility of “mass commutation” (converting all the state’s death sentences to life in prison). Incompetent defense attorneys, bad jury instructions, lying police informants, police misconduct and torture, mistaken eyewitnesses, and race and class bias are among the many problems riddling the system that tried and sentenced all of Illinois’ current death row inmates.
A kangaroo proceeding
Not surprisingly, talk of commutations has drawn a counter reaction from prosecutors in the state. Illinois Attorney Jim Ryan has gone to court to challenge Ryan’s authority to grant sweeping commutations, but has thus far failed. County prosecutors instigated clemency hearings for 142 death row prisoners and used the proceedings to exploit the pain and loss of murder victims’ survivors. As a result, October was a veritable roller coaster ride of emotional turmoil and misinformation. Two weeks of grief-racked testimonies in front of the twelve-member Prisoner Review Board (PRB) overshadowed the pleas and legal arguments of defense attorneys. Rob Warden, executive director of the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions, noted that the Prisoner Review Board was “not going to give defense presentations any credence whatsoever. . . it has been a horrible kangaroo proceeding.”
During the proceedings, Ryan began to retreat from the idea of “mass commutation,” instead suggesting that he would evaluate each clemency request on a case-by-case basis.
But hope remains that Governor Ryan will make “one last stand for justice,” to quote a November 21 editorial urging a blanket commutation in The New York Times. To bolster support for Ryan to clear the row, state groups have organized several events in November and December. Ryan attended a November 14 event at Northwestern University to salute the students and volunteers responsible for exposing many wrongful convictions. The governor surprised the crowd by announcing a pardon for Paula Gray, a wrongfully convicted prisoner whose conviction was overturned in 2001 based on a student investigation. On November 19, 650 state lawyers signed an open letter to Ryan. Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation has a large pro-commutation event planned for December 8. A week later, the Second National Conference on Wrongful Convictions (the first was in 1998) will gather together dozens of former death row inmates who were convicted of murders they did not commit.
“The Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment already found that everyone tried and sentenced was done so under a deeply flawed judicial system,” said Jane Bohman, director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. “Governors have long acted as a failsafe against innocent people being executed or to prevent miscarriages of justice. Commutation is the logical and reasonable next step, a simple call for justice.”
