ILLINOIS: Commutation Is Justice, Not Mercy

Joe Burrows, Perry Cobb, Rolando Cruz, Gary Gauger, Alejandro Hernandez, Verneal Jimerson, Ronald Jones, Carl Lawson, Steve Manning, Anthony Porter, Steven Smith, Darby Tillis, Dennis Williams. These are the names of 13 men condemned by the State of Illinois to be executed. All were found to be innocent of the crimes for which they were to be murdered.

 How did they end up in the condemned units of Illinois prisons? Class and race figure as major factors. The state has a budget that it can manipulate to throw large amounts of money into the prosecution of capital cases. Most defendants who face the death penalty have to rely on poorly paid private lawyers or public defenders bogged down by their caseloads. Some of these defense attorneys are incompetent. Some judges go out of their way to favor the prosecution. Some prosecutors focus on winning a high profile case and ignore or hide evidence that hurts their chances. Often the defendants receive only the justice they can afford.

 African American defendants have been condemned to death by all-white juries. Imagine the cries for "a jury of my peers" coming from Chicago's mayor if he faced an all-African American jury on obstruction of justice charges stemming from his role as State's Attorney when Police Commander Jon Burge and his detectives were allegedly torturing confessions out of prisoners on the south side of Chicago.

 Ten men are currently in the condemned units in Illinois prisons after confessing to Jon Burge and company. Russian roulette, suffocation and electric shock are interrogation methods reportedly used by Burge and his detectives. After years of community pressure, in 1993 the Chicago Police Department fired Burge, but allowed him to retire with a full pension. Those men on death row are facing execution through the legalization of lynching, not a fair and just judicial system.

 The majority of women and men in the condemned units in Illinois did not get there because of Burge, but they did suffer through a legal system that Governor George Ryan has called racist and unfair. The Illinois Constitution gives the Governor broad power in sentence commutation. Governor Ryan has indicated that he is considering commuting the sentences of the men and women facing execution in Illinois. This should not be considered an act of mercy. This should be viewed as recognition of a legal system that does not provide justice. It should be seen as recognition of a legal system that is prepared to execute the innocent.

 While the number of commutations would set a record, other governors have either commuted every death sentence under their review, or they have commuted the sentences of everyone on death row prior to leaving office. Most recently, Governor Anaya of New Mexico commuted the sentences of all 5 condemned prisoners in his state prisons before leaving office in 1986.

 Standing in the way of mass commutation is a law passed by a vindictive Illinois State Legislature that only allows the governor to commute the sentences of prisoners requesting commutation. In January of 1996, then Governor Jim Edgar commuted the sentence of Guinevere Garcia from death, to natural life in prison without parole. Edgar issued this commutation against the wishes of Garcia. After reviewing her case, Governor Edgar felt that the circumstances of her crime (shooting her husband during a robbery attempt) did not merit the death penalty. Governor Edgar issued the following statement after commuting Garcia's sentence: "It is not the state's responsibility to carry out the wishes of a defendant." In a spiteful move, our legislature then passed the law that requires the prisoner to request commutation. Obviously, justice was not a consideration in the passage of this law, as it makes commutation dependant upon the defendant as opposed to a gubernatorial review of possible judicial failure, systemic or individual.

 Regardless of the law, Governor Ryan should commute the sentences of all of the condemned to, at most, a sentence of life without possibility of parole. This would prevent execution of the innocent and allow for further review of the individual cases of all currently condemned prisoners. Given that the ratio of executed to exonerated in Illinois since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977 is less than 1:1 (12 executed to 13 exonerated), complete commutation is the only just solution.

 Timing is of the essence. It is inconceivable that either of the major gubernatorial candidates will consider mass commutation. Both Ron Blagojevich and Jim Ryan support the death penalty, as do the 2 major candidates for attorney general: Lisa Madigan and Joseph Birkett. In fact Lisa Madigan, alone, has stated her opposition to the current moratorium on executions. Commutation will be a non-issue for them. While it is unlikely that Governor Ryan will act before the November election, he will have nearly two months after the election to help right the wrongs of a broken judicial system.

 Contact Governor Ryan and urge him to commute the sentences of all of the condemned in Illinois prisons. His address: The Honorable George Ryan; Governor of Illinois; State House; Springfield, IL 62706.

(source: Thomas Broderick is an abolition activist who published this piece in the monthly journal New Ground published by Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Thomas is the Amnesty International volunteer liason to the Illinois Coalition against the Death Penalty's monthly Summit meeting.)