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| Ill. Governor Vetoes Section of Death Penalty Reform Measure Aimed at Punishing Perjury |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/05/2003 |
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The governor frustrated lawmakers by vetoing part of a proposed reform package intended to be the centerpiece of a new capital punishment system, an action that now sends the whole bill back to the Legislature. Gov. Rod Blagojevich's said July 29 he approved of all aspects of the package except a section providing sanctions for perjury by individual police officers. The bill's main sponsor, Sen. John Cullerton, said he expected the Legislature to override the governor's veto during the fall session. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the bill in their spring session. ''I'm very disappointed and we're going to override the veto,'' he said. The partial veto sends the matter back to the state Legislature. The state's struggles with the death penalty have made headlines nationwide for the past three years. Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk said Blagojevich signed a veto message supporting everything in the legislation except the perjury provision, which would take away badges of police officers if a review board found they had committed perjury in a homicide case. Tusk said the governor thought that provision was unfair to police because it lowered the standard of proof for wrongdoing by an officer. Top officials with the state Fraternal Order of Police spent the weekend making their case to the governor's staff, talking with aides ''all the way up,'' said Allen Bennett, the union's director of government relations. Tusk acknowledged the police union and other groups lobbied the governor, but denied the governor felt pressured. ''The governor makes his decision based on what is right and best for the state,'' he said. Two weeks ago the governor had signed a related reform law making Illinois the first state to mandate that police tape interrogations and confessions in murder cases. The state's proposed reform package would allow judges to rule out the death penalty in cases that rest largely on a single eyewitness or informant, allow the state Supreme Court to overturn death sentences it deems ''fundamentally unjust'' and require juries to consider more mitigating factors before imposing the penalty. |
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