Death Penalty Foes See Progress in Ill.

Governor's Pledge to Review All Cases Called Latest Sign of Shifting Sentiment

     Illinois Gov. George Ryan (R) said he will review the cases of all 159 inmates on the state�s death row before he leaves office in January. (Stephen J. Carrera - AP)

By Kari Lydersen

 March 11, 2002

CHICAGO -- Darby Tillis knew he was innocent of the 1977 murder and robbery he was convicted of, but he resigned himself to taking his death row sentence "like a man." Then reality set in.

"You're hit by the stench of Pinesol, feces, urine, body odor, sick odor," Tillis said over the weekend. "You are in the Death House. You are treated like a contaminated piece of meat to be disposed of."

 Tillis, who has since been exonerated, joined a gathering of death penalty opponents at DePaul University over the weekend to strategize about how to abolish what they view as a flawed law and to celebrate recent victories. In Illinois in particular, they have much to celebrate.

 One week before the conference, Gov. George Ryan (R) said he will review the cases of all 159 inmates on the state's death row, and possibly commute some or all of the sentences to life in prison, before he leaves office in January.

 The governor imposed a moratorium on executions two years ago. His announcement last week was just the latest step in a shift in public and political sentiment about the death penalty in the state. The moratorium will remain in effect pending the results of a study on the death penalty by a 14-member commission appointed by Ryan. Ryan's spokesman, Dennis Culloton, said the report is scheduled to be released this spring.

 Death penalty opponents, who once felt like a tiny minority of "voices in the wilderness," according to Jane Bohman, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty, now feel that the weight of public opinion and legislative support is shifting to their side.

 "I'd rather have somebody angry than have an innocent person killed," Ryan said March 2 at a capital punishment conference at the University of Oregon. "If government can't get this right, it ought not be in the business of passing such final, irreversible judgment."

 If Ryan commutes the sentences of death row inmates, the inmates could not be executed even if the death penalty is reinstated under a future governor.

 "This was a very courageous thing for the governor to do," said Anthony Porter, 42, who was released in 1999 after 17 years on death row on a murder conviction. Porter was released largely due to the efforts of Northwestern University journalism professor David Protess and his students, whose work has led to the release of at least four other inmates.

 Illinois is one of 38 states that permit the death penalty. Since 1977, Illinois has released 13 people from death row and executed 12. Ryan has joined death penalty opponents in identifying incompetent lawyers, jailhouse snitches and insufficient testing of evidence as serious flaws in the process leading up to many death sentences.

 In the past year, the governor also has vetoed two pieces of legislation that would have expanded the death penalty: an anti-terrorism bill and a bill that would have permitted the death penalty for gang-related murders. This year a bill named for Richard Cunningham, a lawyer and death penalty opponent who was killed in March 2001 by his mentally ill son, was introduced in the state legislature. The bill would replace the death sentence with life without possibility of parole.

 "There is a growing public skepticism toward the death penalty," Bohman said. "The coalition has been around 25 years. At first we were just a few people holding vigils outside executions. Now it's exciting to learn that we're not alone. We've come a tremendous distance from when the death penalty could be used to torpedo a politician's candidacy, if they opposed it, to where politicians are supporting the moratorium."

 Ryan continues to enjoy widespread support for his efforts and has been lauded by the likes of Cardinal Francis George; Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.); Sister Helen Prejean, the inspiration for the movie "Dead Man Walking"; and actor Mike Farrell.

 Even pro-death penalty groups have expressed support or tolerance for Ryan's announcement.

 "It's a step further than the moratorium," said Thomas Kirkpatrick, president of the Chicago Crime Commission, a civilian watchdog group. "There are plenty of people there who are clearly guilty. It's not a question of people being dragged innocently to their deaths. Political cynics will suggest it's the governor's attempt to defray attention from his other problems by getting favor with the humanitarian lobby. But while we traditionally support the death penalty, we agree with considering these issues that have been brought up."

 "Reviewing those cases is part of the governor's job description," said John Gorman, spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, which has frequently pushed for the death penalty. "There have been exonerations, but we believe the overwhelming number of cases that come through the system are handled appropriately."

 Gary Gauger, a former death row inmate who was wrongfully convicted of killing his parents, said that although he supports the possible commutations, he wants more than that.

 "No one wants to kill an innocent man," he said. "But you're also not doing an innocent man any favors when he's in prison for life for something he didn't do."