SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Gov. George Ryan may be the toast of death penalty opponents the world over, but the people shattered when a family member was murdered are not concerned with Nobel prizes.  “Putting it bluntly, it’s ridiculous,” Joe Woodhouse said Monday of Ryan’s nomination for the prestigious, and lucrative, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

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Woodhouse’s wife, Kathy Ann, 40, was raped and beaten to death by Paul E. Taylor in 1992 in Herrin, Ill. Convicted of murder, Taylor was sentenced to death, and his is one of about 160 sentences Ryan is thinking of commuting to life in prison. “Where’s the peace?” Woodhouse asked. “Certainly not with me and my family. There’s never going to be peace.” Suspicious of Ryan’s motives, Woodhouse refused to join other victims’ families when they met with the governor in December. Ryan said he wanted to hear from victims’ families before making a decision, but Woodhouse saw it as a political maneuver to improve Ryan’s battered public image. “I’m not going to be used that way,” Woodhouse said, adding that he suspects the nomination has more to do with politics than helping families. University of Illinois law professor and human rights activist Francis Boyle formally announced Monday that he will throw Ryan’s name in the hat for the human rights award. Inspired by a speech addressed to the U of I School of Law, Boyle said he was “profoundly moved” to nominate Ryan, who has waged what the Harvard-trained lawyer described as a “one-man crusade” against capital punishment in Illinois. A self-proclaimed death penalty abolitionist, Boyle noted that Ryan is worthy of the award. “It is fair to say that, during the past three years, George Ryan has done more to oppose the death penalty here in the state of Illinois and nationwide than all of us abolitionists put together,” Boyle added. In May 2002, outgoing Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening enacted a similar moratorium on executions. Up to three people can be nominated for the Nobel Prize, but Boyle said there are no plans to include or coordinate nominations for the two governors. The Nobel Committee is made up of five members appointed by the Norwegian parliament. As a law professor, Boyle is eligible to nominate Ryan for the award, which is given Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. The award includes a prize of more than $1 million. Times Springfield Bureau intern Andrew Binion can be contacted at (217) 789-0865.