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| Court to Rule on Death Row Commutations |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/23/2004 |
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A year after former Gov. George Ryan cleared out the state's death row, the Illinois Supreme Court is considering whether he had the authority to commute sentences. The court was scheduled to rule Friday on a lawsuit that challenged Ryan's constitutional authority to commute the sentences of 32 inmates who were among those spared shortly before the Republican governor left office last January. Ryan gave commutations to 167 inmates and pardoned four others three years after he temporarily halted all executions in Illinois. His actions came after it was discovered that 13 death row inmates had been wrongly convicted, prompting fears that a flawed criminal justice system could lead to others unjustly being condemned. Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office, which filed the lawsuit backed by prosecutors throughout the state, argued Ryan overstepped his power to grant clemency because some of the inmates didn't seek clemency as required by state law. Some others did not have death sentences at the time because their cases were being appealed when Ryan granted commutations. But attorneys representing the state's executive branch, supported by death penalty critics and former Gov. Jim Thompson, said the governor's power to grant pardons, reprieves and commutations cannot be overturned because the state Constitution grants that authority to be used on "such terms as he thinks proper." State lawmakers approved a package last spring designed to reform the death penalty system and reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions, and two inmates have been sent to death row since the blanket commutations. |
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