Quinn Signs Law, Abolishes Death Penalty

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 3539 today, abolishing capital punishment for the state.

In making the decision, Quinn said, "I have found none to be as difficult as the one I made today." It is a reversal from his earlier position during the campaign last year, when he said he was in favor of the death penalty. 

The governor also decided to commute the current 15 death convictions. The law is not retroactive, and would not have covered convictions before July 1, 2011 when the law takes effect. 

Quinn noted that after conferring with former prosecutors and judges, "with decades of experience in the criminal justice system," he is convinced "that it is impossible to devise a system that is consistent, that is free of discrimination on the basis of race, geography or economic circumstance, and that always gets it right."

The governor also said he heard from family members of the victims who said "maintaining a flawed death penalty system will not bring back their loved ones, will not help them to heal and will not bring closure to their pain." 

Rev. Christopher Gustafson, pastor of Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church in Niles, said, "I'm thrilled. In the Catholic church, we've been hoping a continuum of life, from conception through natural death, would be promoted. This is one further step in creating that."

In signing the bill, Quinn puts an end to the controversial death penalty law, which has been in effect in Illinois since 1977. 

During the previous legislative term last January, the Illinois House voted narrowly to abolish the death penalty.  The Illinois Senate followed. 

The law takes effect on July 1. 

Since 1977, a total of 12 convicts were executed in Illinois, until former Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on all executions in 2000, amid reports of numerous wrongful convictions. 

With the abolition of the law, Illinois becomes the 16th state to ban death penalty, joining other states like New York, New Jersey and New Mexico.

Washington D.C. also bans the death penalty. The penalty remains lawful in 34 other states, including California, Texas and Florida.

Of the 298 men and women sentenced to death in Illinois since 1977, 20 people were proven to be innocent and released from prison, according to Northwestern University School of Law's Center on Wrongful Convictions.

Northwestern's innocence project, founded in 1998, helped proved the innocence of 13 death sentence convicts in Illinois, including the celebrated case of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez.

Cruz and Hernandez were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County. 

Shortly before his term ended, Governor Ryan pardoned, in 2003, four men on death row, and commuted to life in prison, or lesser sentences, all those facing the death penalty.  

 The new law is not retroactive, thus the 15 current convictions and future convictions before July 1, 2011 are not covered. Commutation of these sentences are in the hands of Governor Quinn. 

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who opposed the abolition of the law, had said that the death penalty is "an appropriate punishment" for "heinous" crimes and in cases "where there have been multiple murders."

Please stay tuned to Patch for more developments.

--Pam DeFiglio contributed to this story.