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Thread: Illinois Capital Punishment News

  1. #21
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    Kane County Moves Forward with Death Penalty Cases, While Gov Decides

    Kane County will move forward "as usual" with pending death penalty cases while Gov. Pat Quinn decides on whether to repeal, State Attorney Joe McMahon said Tuesday.

    The state Senate voted to repeal the death penalty on Jan. 11, and the Legislature has 30 days to present it to Quinn, the press release said. The governor has 60 days from the time he receives the legislation to sign it.

    Here are the cases, as reported in the release:

    • Hector M. Mauricio, 24, of the 1100 block of Ridgeway Avenue, Aurora. Mauricio in September 2010 pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the 2007 death of 83-year-old Roscoe Ebey of Aurora Township. Circuit Judge Timothy Q. Sheldon in November 2010 ruled that Mauricio is eligible for a death-penalty sentence. Mauricio’s next court date is Feb. 9, to continue the sentencing phase. Lawyers have argued about aggravating factors. Attorneys next must argue about mitigating factors before Judge Sheldon issues his sentence.

    After conferring with Judge Sheldon and Mauricio’s lead attorney, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office plans to seek a delay in the sentencing proceedings until Gov. Quinn acts.

    The other cases are in various pretrial phases:

    • Darren Denson, 39 (d.o.b. 9-10-1971), last address unknown, in the February 2003 death of Kyle Juggins. Denson’s next court appearance is set for Feb. 16, and his trial is set to begin April 4, 2011.

    • Frank Hill, 33 (d.o.b. 7-1-1977), of the 500 block of Telluride Drive, Gilberts, in the January 2007 death of Karyn Pearson. Hill’s next court appearance is set for Feb. 25, and his trial is set to begin May 16, 2011.

    • Jaime M. Diaz, 33 (d.o.b. 4-8-1977), of the 1600 block of North Marywood Avenue, Aurora, in the March 1998 death of Brendon Anderson and Elias Calcano. Diaz’s next court appearance is set for Feb. 10, 2011.

    • Aurelio Montano, 55 (d.o.b. 10-5-1955), of the 200 block of North Kendall Street, Aurora, in the July 1990 death of his wife, Guadalupe Maria Montano. Montano’s next court appearance is set for Feb. 18, 2011.

    "In these four cases, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office plans to proceed as usual and make necessary modifications as needed until Gov. Quinn acts," the release said.

    “Given the uncertainty of Gov. Quinn’s support for the death penalty repeal, the need for justice and the need to keep these cases moving forward, this is appropriate action. As we proceed, we will continue to review each of these cases individually to ensure fairness for the victims and the defendants,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said.

    The charges against Denson, Hill, Diaz and Montano are not proof of guilt. These defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial in which it is the state’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

    http://stcharles-il.patch.com/articl...le-gov-decides

  2. #22
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    Quinn to consider death row inmates in decision on death penalty abolition

    SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday said he would decide the fate of inmates now on death row when he reaches a decision on whether to sign legislation abolishing the death penalty.

    Lawmakers last month passed a measure that would end the death penalty in Illinois, but the legislation excludes the 15 inmates now on death row. That point was noted to Quinn, and he was asked if he was considering commuting the sentences of those inmates.

    “I’m going to make a decision on everything at the right time — it won’t be that long from now — but I do think it’s important to have a period of reflection and review, and that’s what we’re doing,” Quinn said.

    The governor is the only state official authorized to commute death row sentences.

    Lawmakers narrowly approved the abolition measure during the lame-duck session after a long and often-emotional debate. Supporters pointed to multiple death row exonerations, while opponents argued the threat of capital punishment is a tool used by law enforcement to garner confessions from alleged killers.

    The state constitution allows the governor 60 days to act on legislation after it is sent to his desk, or it becomes law without his signature. The proposal was sent to Quinn on Jan. 18.

    Quinn said his decision will come in “a few weeks.” In the meantime, he said he has taken time to “listen to the dialogue of the people, reflect and pray.”

    “I’ve had meetings in my office with a variety of different law enforcement people, as well as private individuals, people from the faith community,” Quinn said. “I encourage anyone in Illinois with an opinion on this subject to e-mail me, mail me letters.”

    Quinn has said in the past that he supports capital punishment for the most heinous of crimes, but he also has kept in place the moratorium on the death penalty imposed in 2000 by former Gov. George Ryan. Ryan in January 2003 then cleared out death row, commuting the sentences of all inmates.

    As the main proponent of the legislation, the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and its supporters are patiently waiting for Quinn’s decision.

    “Obviously, we want him to sign it, but we’ve really stressed that the governor should take as much time as he needs,” said Jeremy Schroeder, executive director.

    County state’s attorneys, however, favor capital punishment, and are hoping Quinn keeps it in place.

    Coles County State’s Attorney Steve Ferguson in February 2003 successfully prosecuted and got the death sentence for Anthony Mertz, who was convicted of killing a female Eastern Illinois University student. Mertz was the first inmate to be sent to death row following Ryan’s blanket commutations, and still resides there.

    Ferguson said he doesn’t begrudge Quinn the time he needs to reach a decision.

    “He certainly seems to be putting more deliberation and time into this than the legislature did, and I’m thankful for that,” Ferguson said.

    Kevin Lyons, state’s attorney for Peoria County, traveled to the state Capitol several times to testify against the abolition bill. He noted that if Quinn signs the legislation, he would also have to act in favor of the inmates now on death row.

    “Fairness would demand that if the death penalty is abolished, those persons would surely have to have their sentences commuted by governor act to life without parole,” Lyons said. “Fairness would require it.”

    But a political observer noted the Democratic governor’s conundrum: Quinn narrowly supports the death penalty, but has been handed abolition legislation by a Democratic Legislature.

    “It does put him in a bit of a box,” said Kent Redfield, a professor of political studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield.

    However, Quinn could sign the legislation, and then ask the newly elected, more conservative Legislature to craft a narrowly defined death penalty, Redfield said.

    “That seems to be the only kind of out he has right now,” he said.

    http://illinois.statehousenewsonline...lty-abolition/

  3. #23
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    Capital punishment proponents call for public referendum

    Though a bill to end the death penalty in Illinois awaits only the governor’s signature, proponents of capital punishment are calling instead for a public referendum on repeal.

    Saying the death penalty repeal bill was “rushed through” the General Assembly, state Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale and state Rep. Dennis Reboletti of Elmhurst, both Republicans, announced legislation on Feb. 15 to put capital punishment in Illinois to a public vote, urging Gov. Pat Quinn to veto the repeal bill passed Jan. 11.

    “The public has had very little, if any, input into the process, which was rushed through at the 11th hour of the veto session back in January,” Reboletti says. “It is my hope that the people will have their voice heard, and this referendum will be on the next general election ballot in 2012. Gov. Quinn has always been an advocate of letting the peoples’ voice be heard through referendums throughout his four decades of service to this state, and we’re hopeful he would be supportive of this measure."

    Quinn has not indicated whether he will sign the bill, though he has said he is in favor of the death penalty. Reboletti, a former prosecutor in Will County for 8 years, and Dillard, a member of the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee, said they would support keeping in place Illinois’ moratorium on executions put in place by former Governor George Ryan in 2000.

    The 2 legislators are also pushing legislation to reform the death penalty. Reboletti has introduced House Bill 1519, which would reduce the number of crimes that make a criminal case eligible for the death penalty, while Dillard’s Senate Bill 2277 would establish a panel to approve cases in which the death penalty is sought. The language of SB2276 is still being drafted, but Dillard said the panel would include the Cook County state’s attorney, a downstate state’s attorney, one state’s attorney apointed by the governor, a judge and a representative of the attorney general’s office. Dillard said he would not be opposed to having a civilian serve on the panel as well.

    “That’s why we have hearings,” Dillard says. “That’s why we don’t do things in an hour."

    Dillard’s bill is an attempt to mitigate racial and geographic inequalities that have surfaced in Illinois’ administration of the death penalty. Defendants in murder cases outside of Cook County are more likely to receive a death sentence than those outside Cook County, according to the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee, while the research instigated by the Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment in 2002 showed the death penalty was disproportionately applied to cases involving white victims.

    Asked why more reforms weren’t implemented in the decade following Ryan’s moratorium, Reboletti noted that he had introduced reform legislation in several previous General Assembly sessions.

    “The General Assembly doesn’t usually act until they are pushed into a corner,” Reboletti says.

    The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty worked to push the repeal bill through the legislature, overcoming an early defeat in the House to see it resurrected and passed by both chambers during the previous General Assembly session, which ended in January. Randy Steidl, a former death row inmate who was exonerated and released in May 2004 after 17 years in prison, appealed to Gov. Quinn on Feb. 14 to sign the repeal bill and commute remaining death sentences to life imprisonment without parole. Steidl’s story was first featured in Illinois Times in 1993.

    “There’s always going to be wrongful convictions,” Steidl says. “On death row, you have a procedural clock, and you have certain procedures and hurdles you have to go through in order to prove your innocence. If you can’t meet that burden, that clock stops, and you’re executed. At least with life without parole, you don’t risk the possibility of executing an innocent person.”

    Exoneree Delbert Tibbs, a Chicago resident who was wrongly convicted of a 1974 murder and rape in Florida, says he and Steidl are pushing for the abolition of capital punishment nationwide.

    “It’s an issue of national concern,” Tibbs says. “Of the modern, industrialized – I’ll add – Christian countries …we’re the only nation that does that. In that regard, we are a throwback to the 19th century. We’ve got cell phones, but we’re still going to lock people up, put them in electric chairs and poison them."

    (source: Illinois Times)

  4. #24
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    Quinn getting input on Illinois death penalty decision

    Prosecutors from Cook and DuPage counties, along with families of murder victims, met with Gov. Pat Quinn on whether Illinois should abolish the death penalty.

    Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez says the prosecutors and victims' families met for two hours with Quinn.

    Quinn said earlier Thursday he is getting input from both inside and outside the state about whether he should sign a bill that abolishes the death penalty.

    Quinn supports the death penalty, but has kept in place the state's moratorium on capital punishment.

    Alvarez said she doesn't know what Quinn will ultimately decide to do, adding he listened to why they oppose ending capital punishment.

    Quinn says he has also heard from retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sister Helen Prejean, a leading death penalty foe.

    http://qctimes.com/news/local/articl...cc4c03286.html

  5. #25
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    George Ryan deposition sheds light on his Death Row decision

    It was a brief exchange, but the question was pointed: “Are you going to kill my son?”

    From federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., former Gov. George Ryan, in what’s believed to be the first deposition he’s given about his historic 2003 clemency decision, said the question posed by the father of a onetime Ryan classmate led to his move to clear out Death Row.



    George Ryan deposition


    In a 2010 interview with lawyers, a sometimes combative, sometimes joking Ryan spoke at length about his clemency decision in response to a civil lawsuit, a newly-released deposition shows. “A little prison food would probably be good for all of you. I think it’s baloney for lunch today,” Ryan tells attorneys at one point.

    The Chicago Sun-Times last week revealed portions of Ryan’s deposition. The imprisoned former governor was compelled to answer a series of questions about why he granted an innocence pardon to Oscar Walden Jr., who was suing the city of Chicago for coersion in federal court.

    In response to a freedom of information request, the city released Ryan’s deposition Monday.

    While Ryan stuck to much of what he’s said previously regarding his decision, at times he revealed a personal side.

    One of the cases he considered involved a onetime high school classmate who was on Death Row for shooting a police officer. Ryan didn’t name the inmate, but said he bumped into the classmate’s father at a meeting.

    “That was a big impact on my decision, that statement in that meeting, that confrontation,” Ryan said.

    As he mulled whether to commute the sentences of 167 inmates on Death Row, Ryan said he withstood ridicule from the family of victims, who were “just brutal.”

    “They threw stuff at me when I stood on the podium and swore at me and, you know, called me all kinds of names,” Ryan said.

    At one point, Ryan admitted spending as little as 10 minutes on petitions but at another point he said he burned the midnight oil pondering cases.

    Ryan appeared to keep up with the news while behind bars, making reference to current pardon decisions. He noted there is a “Big backlog there now. [Gov.] Quinn has got to clear it out. [Rod] Blagojevich didn’t do anything.”

    Ryan spoke of another event that propelled him to clear out Death Row and offer a slew of pardons before he left office. He cited the case of Andrew Porter, who faced death, but then was released from prison after 15 years following work by Northwestern University’s Center for Wrong Convictions.

    “I turned to my wife, and I said, how the hell does that happen?” Ryan said. “How does an innocent man sit on death row for 15 years. ... And that piqued my interest, Anthony Porter. And I followed that case right through to commutation of 167 guys. I thought it was 177. Whatever it was. And that’s what triggered me. I still can’t believe it.”

    City Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said that the city also fought a civil case filed by Porter – successfully.

    “Like Walden, Porter was pardoned on the basis of innocence, then filed a lawsuit against the City and police officers,” Hoyle said Monday. “We took the case to trial and won.”

    Ryan, 77, who has sought release from prison since his wife’s illness last year, sometimes grew short-tempered in his interview.

    “I’m concerned that you may leave here and put out a press release and take me out of context on something I may have said. It happens a lot in my business. You just laughed. I’m not — I don’t think it’s funny. It’s a legitimate question by the way,” Ryan says. “That’s my next concern. Maybe I’m going to get called in for a trial. Is that going to happen?”

    Questioning Ryan was Avi T. Kamionski, an attorney hired by the city.

    Kamionski last week said there was no basis for Ryan’s innocence pardon of Walden.

    Last week, Walden lost in a trial to get the city to pay him for a rape conviction he said came after he was coerced into confessing.

    Attorney Andrea Lyon, a staunch Death Row opponent who represented Ryan in the deposition, said she had no comment on Ryan’s remarks and did not know if it was the first time Ryan had given a deposition with regard to his clemency decisions. While Ryan was able to claim executive privilege in some of the questions, he was compelled to answer a litany of others, Kamionski said.

    “If Ryan didn’t pardon this guy, he’d have no claim,” Kamionski said last week. “Why did Ryan do it? He still didn’t answer the question.”

    http://www.suntimes.com/4059287-417/...-decision.html

  6. #26
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    GOP prepared if Quinn repeals death penalty

    CHICAGO (WLS) - Republicans have an alternative plan if Gov. Pat Quinn kills the state's death penalty.

    If Quinn signs the bill repealing the death penalty, Republican State Senator Kirk Dillard says he’ll propose a new bill restoring capital punishment for the worst of the worst.

    “That would be serial killers, heinous child murderers, those who kill law enforcement officials or witnesses,” Dillard said.

    The governor has until March 18 to act.

    In the past, he has supported the death penalty, but he changes his mind a lot. He too might be inclined to use his powers to keep it for the worst of the worst, but in this case, those amendatory veto powers are probably not available to him because the lame duck session of the legislature that passed the repealer is no longer in session.

    You can hear more from Dillard on the Connected to Chicago podcast at WLSAM.com.

    http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2126218&spid=

  7. #27
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    Obama weighs in on death penalty bill

    7 SPRINGFIELD — President Obama has appeared to tip his hand on Illinois’ bill to end the death penalty, which Gov. Quinn is expected to act upon within the week.

    During an encounter with Quinn at the White House last week, the president praised the governor on the legislation and on Illinois’ legalization of civil unions, said state Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago), a lead legislative backer of the abolition bill and Obama’s successor in the Illinois Senate.

    “The governor said Barack had complimented him and the state on our work on civil unions and the death penalty,” Raoul said Friday, recounting a conversation with Quinn following his return last week from a Washington, D.C. trip to attend National Governors Association meetings.

    Obama has publicly stated his support for the death penalty in heinous cases but as a state lawmaker voted against expanding the death penalty to crimes arising from gang activity. Obama was a driving force behind a 2003 package of death-penalty reforms that required interrogations be videotaped in capital punishment cases.

    How or if the president’s words of praise play into Quinn’s decision-making isn’t entirely clear. The governor had been widely anticipated to take action on the repeal bill Friday but then abruptly postponed doing so.

    Quinn met Friday with Raoul and Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood), the death penalty bill’s lead House sponsor, at the Thompson Center for an update on deliberations over the death-penalty legislation. Raoul emerged still believing that Quinn will enact the measure.

    “I feel fairly confident that he’s going to sign it. My feeling on that has not changed on the basis of our meeting today,” said Raoul, who said the governor “gave us an impression he’d act within the week.”

    Neither Quinn’s office nor the White House press office responded to questions about Raoul’s account of the exchange between the president and governor or its potential significance. The matter did not arise during the lawmakers’ meeting with the governor Friday.

    At that meeting, the governor did not make clear what his intentions are for the 15 Death Row inmates who are not addressed directly in the repeal legislation. However, when that subject was addressed, Quinn specifically mentioned by name serial killer Brian Dugan, who was sentenced to death in 2009 for the 1983 rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico, of Naperville, Raoul said.

    “The consistent sentiment he said over and over was that he’s got to make sure he gives a fair listen to all of the victims he’s heard from and whatever his decision he makes is, it’s a solemn act,” Raoul said. “He wants to be respectful to both sides of the issue when he makes his decision.”

    http://www.suntimes.com/4139429-417/...alty-bill.html

  8. #28
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    Illinois governor says he will act on death penalty legislation this week

    CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn says he will act this week on a bill that would abolish executions in Illinois.

    Quinn said Monday that he's "going to act" this week, but not Tuesday. He said there's still information he wants to read and research he wants to do before acting on the legislation.

    The legislation reaches Quinn after former Gov. George Ryan dramatically cleared the state's death row in 2000.

    Quinn has said his decision will be based on his conscience. He has spent two months consulting with prosecutors, murder victims' families, death penalty opponents and religious leaders as he weighs his options.

    Illinois is one of 35 states to have the death penalty. The state currently does not carry out executions because of the 2000 moratorium.

    http://www.wqad.com/news/sns-ap-il--...,5452458.story

  9. #29
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    Illinois Gov. Quinn to announce his death-penalty decision at Noon today

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will meet with reporters at noon today to announce his decision on a historic death-penalty abolition bill, his office is confirming this morning.

    He will already have taken action on the bill by that point, according to his office.

    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/g...7a4a78c22.html

  10. #30
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    Pat Quinn Signs Illinois Death Penalty Ban: 15 Other States Where Capital Punishment Is Forbidden

    Gov. Pat Quinn has abolished capital punishment in Illinois.

    Joined by government colleagues and supporters, the Democratic governor signed a bill outlawing the state's death penalty this afternoon at an intimate ceremony at his Springfield office, the Chicago Tribune reported.

    The ban comes 11 years after Republican Gov. George Ryan enacted a moratorium on capital punishment that prevented executions in Illinois for over a decade after numerous complaints of bias and incompetence in the process surfaced.

    Quinn's signature makes Illinois the sixteenth state to ban capital punishment.

    The other states where the death penalty is outlawed include Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin. The District of Columbia also banned capital punishment in 1981.

    http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/09/pa...r-states-wher/

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