January 05, 2003
When Illinois Gov.
George Ryan announced the moratorium on the death penalty in
Illinois, a candlelight vigil was held in his honor in Rome.
The reaction in Illinois has been different.
Ryan's wrestling with clemency for the men and women prisoners on
death row was voted the fifth most important local story of the year
by Journal readers.
Ryan issued a blanket moratorium after tests showed that half
dozen men were awaiting execution for crimes they did not commit.
In the meantime, the governor is considering clemency. That would
keep those convicted behind bars, but end the possibility of their
executions.
Kankakee County residents testified, often emotionally, that the
lives of people who were slain should be remembered in the clemency
decision. Victims' families were offered the opportunity to testify
as the governor considered clemency in 142 cases.
Area police officers showed up en masse to make sure Tony Samfay,
a slain Kankakee police officer, was remembered. Samfay was killed
by Eric Lee. Mika Moulton, mother of Christopher Meyer, testified as
well. Meyer, an Aroma Park boy, was only 10 when he was killed by
Timothy Buss in 1995.
Both Buss and Lee are on death row.
Moulton described herself as forever the mother of "an innocent
10-year-old boy."
Of Buss, she said: "He doesn't deserve to live the rest of his
natural life."
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