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| Ill. Death Row Cases Handed Back |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/19/2002 |
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The Illinois Supreme Court gave second chances to two death-row inmates Thursday, granting one a new trial and allowing another DNA testing and the opportunity to argue that his lawyer was incompetent. In the first case, the high court ruled that Edward Tenney, convicted of the 1993 murder of a 74-year-old woman, should be retried because a jury was not allowed to hear statements alleging another man confessed to the slaying. That man was initially found guilty of the crime, but the court vacated his conviction after authorities charged Tenney, who is also serving a life sentence for another murder. In the second case, the court granted Milton Johnson's request for DNA testing of evidence from a woman who survived a 1983 attack. Johnson was convicted of killing the woman's boyfriend and stabbing and raping her. Johnson also should get a hearing on his claim that his trial attorney, William Swano, was incompetent, the court ruled. Swano, now in prison, was indicted in 1991 for bribing judges and getting cocaine in return for legal services. Johnson says Swano lied about interviewing witnesses and hiring experts in his case. The decisions came days after Gov. George Ryan's death penalty commission released a report with 85 recommendations to fix the state's capital punishment system. Ryan suspended executions in 2000, citing the release of 13 death-row inmates whose convictions were flawed. |
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