January 23, 2003

SPRINGFIELD (AP) - The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday gave attorneys 30 days to file motions on what to do with the 54 capital punishment cases pending before the court.

The cases include those against former Peoria-area death row inmates Jeffrey Rissley, Joseph Miller, Roosevelt Lucas and Raymond Burgess.

Former Gov. George Ryan recently pardoned four death row inmates and gave a blanket commutation to the sentences of 167 others.

After three years of study, Ryan said the capital punishment system in Illinois was too flawed to be trusted.

Melissa Merz, spokesman for the Illinois attorney general’s office, said the Supreme Court’s order Tuesday "gives us an opportunity to present to the court the issues we think need to be presented in each individual case." Merz added, "We are evaluating the impact of the governor’s decision on the cases in which the attorney general’s office is involved."

Other prosecutors have not waited for court orders. Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine is trying to reverse Ryan’s decision 10 of the cases in which the governor granted clemency. He said their sentences were vacated in other courts and the defendants were awaiting resentencing, so, by law, those defendants were not eligible for clemency.

Devine has also argued that Ryan had no authority to commute the sentences of 13 other inmates because those inmates did not authorize or sign the petition for clemency filed on their behalf.

Of the 54 former death penalty cases pending before the Supreme Court, justices have heard oral arguments in 14 but have yet to rule.