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| Gov.: Ill. Death Penalty Needs Look |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/27/2002 |
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Saying the state's justice system is 'broken,' Illinois Gov. George Ryan has asked lawmakers to consider a major overhaul of the death penalty, including reducing the number of crimes eligible for capital punishment. The Republican governor wants hearings on all the legislative recommendations made by his death penalty commission, which called last month for wholesale changes after studying the issue for two years. But lawmakers made it clear when the commission issued its report that some ideas stood little chance of winning approval - particularly eliminating 15 of the 20 crimes eligible for death. For instance, they said, someone hiring a hit man no longer could receive the death penalty. Ryan halted executions in Illinois two years ago after 13 death row inmates were released because their convictions were flawed. His commission stopped short of calling for the abolition of capital punishment, but it recommended changes that some argued would gut the death penalty system. The recommendations included barring executions of mentally retarded people and eliminating the death penalty when convictions are based solely on the word of jailhouse informants. Republican Sen. Ed Petka, a former prosecutor, said he plans to introduce his own package of changes to the death penalty system. Ryan said passing the recommendations on to lawmakers does not mean he endorses them. 'Let the General Assembly do what they're going to do to it. I'll have the final say if I'm still around as governor when and if it passes,' Ryan said. |
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