Illinois prisoner review board will tackle all death cases in four days

Sep 4, 2002

By MELANIE COFFEE,

LANSING, Illinois - A state review board will spend four days next month reviewing clemency requests by about 160 death row inmates, giving each side in each case 15 minutes to argue whether or not Gov. George Ryan should spare their lives.

The Cook County state's attorney, whose office prosecuted about half the cases, criticized the assembly line proceeding.

But Ryan, who gained national prominence when he halted executions in Illinois in January 2000, said he stands by the board's time limit.

"You could spend an hour or two hours to tell their stories, but we've got to get their message consolidated," said Ryan, whose term ends in January.

The review panel will meet Oct. 15 through 18 in Springfield and Chicago, board chairman Anne Taylor said Tuesday. The panel must determine whether the inmate should die or have their sentences commuted to life in prison.

After each side in a case has made its pitch, board members will be able to ask questions. The review panel also can study each case through court records, case studies and written testimony from family members of victims and inmates, Taylor said.

At the end of each morning and afternoon session, board members will decide on their recommendations to Ryan. He is to receive all the recommendations by the end of Oct. 18, when he can begin to review the cases, Taylor said.

Petitions were filed on behalf of 157 inmates, but Taylor said she is not sure whether there will be a hearing on all the petitions.

"It's mind-boggling to think all of the time and attention that was paid to these cases at the front end by so many people, how it is now being put in the Reader's Digest form of justice," said Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine.

Taylor said she understands Devine's concern but that the number of cases don't allow for the board to use that much time.

"We would like to agree with his request, we understand it, but time is of the essence," Taylor said.

In March, Ryan said he would review each death penalty case before he leaves office.

Ryan halted executions in January 2000 after 13 Illinois death row inmates were found to have been wrongly convicted. A blue-ribbon panel he appointed has recommended 85 changes to the state's capital punishment system.

Victims' families say the procedures outlined for the clemency hearings are unfair.

"All of the juries and the judges that have done these cases, it's like it means nothing," said Dawn Pueschel, 46, who's brother and sister-in-law were killed August 29, 1983, by two men who are now on death row. "All of the time that was spent, it's just a travesty of justice."