Illinois Gov. George
Ryan
(Stephen J.
Carrera/AP) |
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - George Ryan, in one of his last acts as
governor of Illinois, travels today to Chicago where he is
expected to announce whether he is sparing perhaps all 160
inmates on the state's death row.
Ryan will speak at
noon today at the DePaul University School of Law and at 1
p.m. Saturday at the Northwestern University School of Law,
venues that suggest how Ryan is going to act. Both law schools
have worked to free death row inmates.
A source close
to the clemency process, who spoke Thursday only on condition
of anonymity, told the Associated Press Ryan would pardon
Aaron Patterson, Madison Hobley, Leroy Orange and Stanley
Howard. All four men have alleged that Chicago police tortured
them into making confessions.
"I don't think he would
come and give a speech that was going to greatly disappoint
us," said Rob Warden, executive director of the Northwestern
University Center on Wrongful Convictions. "Let's put it this
way, he's not giving the speech at the Cook County state's
attorney's office."
While the decision is drawing
worldwide attention, it is being intensely watched by
relatives of those killed by those death row inmates.
Eight of the inmates are from the Metro East area.
Together, they killed 23 people, authorities charged.
Mary Dean of East St. Louis, whose 14-year-old
daughter was murdered in 1992 by death row inmate Lorenzo
Fayne, said in an interview this week that she strongly
opposed Ryan commuting Fayne's sentence.
"I'm missing
my daughter," Dean said. "I think about her all the time. . .
. I wish Gov. Ryan wouldn't do it. Why? Why?"
Ryan,
who leaves office on Monday, might also announce total pardons
for some inmates, thus freeing them from prison. The Chicago
Tribune reported Thursday that Ryan's staff had made calls to
advocates for a handful of death row inmates to ask where they
would live and work if released.
Ryan's decision is
the culmination of a three-year examination of Illinois'
capital punishment system. The governor, a Republican who
formerly supported the death penalty, placed a freeze on
executions in January 2000, after Illinois courts had freed 13
inmates who had been on death row.
Ryan's suggestion
of a blanket clemency prompted nearly all death row inmates to
seek mercy. That in turn led to clemency hearings in the fall
that replayed some of the state's most gruesome murders.
The debate has pitted two groups - prosecutors, joined
by the victims' families, who vehemently oppose a blanket
commutation - and opponents of capital punishment, who hope
that a sweeping commutation will mean a dramatic step forward
for their cause.
"Nationally, this can have huge
implications," said Marlene Martin, national director of the
Campaign to End the Death Penalty, a group based in Chicago.
"I'm optimistic he will do the right thing. The death penalty
is flawed and it's too flawed to be fixed. We need to wipe
clean death row."
St. Clair County State's Attorney
Robert Haida said such a blanket commutation would be
irresponsible and reckless. If the governor does commute the
death sentence en masse, Haida said, there is talk among
prosecutors of launching a legal challenge.
Haida
said, though, that the governor's power to grant clemency is
almost unlimited.
"As prosecutors, we learn about the
crimes, we know the survivors, we know the horrors that were
perpetrated by those found guilty of the crime," Haida said.
"For the vast majority of those found guilty to get the
benefit for one guy found wrongfully convicted - it's
completely in contrast to the criminal justice system as I
know it. I find the idea repugnant."
A University of
Illinois law professor, Francis Boyle, said this week that he
would nominate Ryan for the Nobel Peace Prize later this
month, commending him for his "heroic, courageous and
principled opposition" to the state's capital punishment
system.
Relatives of some victims said they were
worried that a nomination for the peace prize, which includes
a large cash award to the recipient, would give Ryan incentive
to commute the sentences of Illinois' death row inmates.
"We just feel that now there's a financial reward for
him," Paul Nersesian, 41, of Belleville, said in an interview
this week.
Nersesian's brother, Sam Nersesian, 23, was
murdered at their family's dry-cleaning business in East St.
Louis in 1979. Andre Jones, now 46, was sentenced to die for
killing Sam Nersesian and two other people in two armed
robberies.
"There's a reward for him to grant clemency
for all," Paul Nersesian said. "We just feel that's somewhat
unfair to the families. To put that carrot in front of him, to
possibly entice him to make that decision, may be the X factor
that tips his hand."
Jones was defended by Joan
Pantsios, of the state appellate defender's office, at the
clemency hearings in October. The board listened to clemency
petitions from more than 140 inmates on death row and
forwarded its secret recommendations to the governor. Ryan is
not obligated to follow those recommendations.
Pantsios described the last three years as a "roller
coaster" for opponents to the death penalty.
"This is
a historic moment in time," Pantsios said. "The moratorium was
a first, and then the report by the commission - it's been
unprecedented. It's hard at this point to separate your
expectations from your hopes, but I'm hopeful there will be a
blanket commutation."
The report Pantsios referred to
was written by a commission formed by the governor after he
imposed the freeze. A commission with members from both sides
of the debate recommended more than 85 reforms to Illinois'
death penalty system.
The Associated Press
and William Lamb and Norm Parish, both of the Post-Dispatch
staff, contributed to this report.
Reporter
Alexa Aguilar:
E-mail:
aaguilar@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 217-782-4912
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