USA, ILLINOIS CANCELLA 156 CONDANNE A MORTE/ANSA

GOVERNATORE USCENTE RYAN HA SVUOTATO I BRACCI DELLA MORTE

(di Cristiano Del Riccio)

WASHINGTON, 11 GEN - Con gesto coraggioso e clamoroso il governatore dell'Illinois George Ryan ha svuotato oggi i bracci della morte. Nelle sue ore finali come primo cittadino dell'Illinois Ryan ha annunciato l'annullamento di tutte le condanne a morte nello stato: i 156 detenuti in attesa del boia non saranno uccisi. Le sentenze di morte sono state commutate dal governatore nel carcere a vita.

   ''Il sistema non funziona. E' dominato dagli errori - ha spiegato nel suo discorso odierno alla Northwestern University 

Errori nel condannare ed errori nel giudicare chi mettere a morte''.

   L'annuncio di Ryan, senza precedenti negli Usa, ha provocato una valanga di polemiche. Tra i piu' accesi nelle critiche sono stati i familiari delle vittime e numerosi magistrati rapidi a mettere il risalto il tempismo sospetto dell'annuncio: il governatore repubblicano, che lunedi' cedera' la carica e il potere di salvare vite al successore, ha rinunciato a ricandidarsi perche' coinvolto in uno scandalo di tangenti che ha rovinato la sua carriera politica. La commutazione delle esecuzioni sarebbe un tentativo in extremis di Ryan, sostengono gli avversari, per modificare la sua immagine di politico corrotto.

   Il governatore ha definito ''realmente vergognoso'' il meccanismo che porta i tribunali a infliggere condanne a morte in Illinois: errori giudiziari hanno portato alla condanna di numerosi innocenti.

   Ryan aveva ordinato tre anni fa una moratoria sulle esecuzioni in Illinois dopo aver scoperto che almeno tredici detenuti in attesa del boia erano innocenti. Nel frattempo ha chiesto a un team di esperti di valutare l'equita' con cui sono comminate le condanne a morte nello stato. Le conclusioni degli specialisti hanno rafforzato la convinzione di Ryan sulla scarsa affidabilita' del meccanismo che porta i condannati davanti al boia.

   Dopo avere graziato ieri quattro condannati a morte che erano stati condannati ingiustamente (tre sono gia' stati scarcerati) ha deciso oggi di annullare tutte le esecuzioni svuotando i bracci della morte. I 156 detenuti in attesa di morire sconteranno adesso il carcere a vita.

   Ryan ha inviato oggi ai familiari delle vittime una lettera di spiegazione dei motivi della sua decisione. Le reazioni dei familiari sono state spesso negative. ''Mio figlio e' stato ucciso 17 anni fa -  ha dichiarato Vern Fulling - Non solo il suo assassino e' ancora in vita ma adesso riuscira' anche ad evitare la giusta punizione. Questo e' farsi beffe della giustizia''.

   Accese anche le reazioni dei magistrati. Il procuratore Dick Devine afferma che il futuro dei condannati ''deve essere deciso dai tribunali e non da un farmacista che gioca a fare la

politica''.

      Il nuovo governatore democratico Rod Blagojevich, che lunedi'succedera' a Ryan, pur concordando con la moratoria delle esecuzioni in corso da tre anni nello stato ha definito oggi ''un grosso errore'' la decisione di Ryan di commutare tutte le sentenze capitali. ''Ciascun caso dovrebbe essere esaminato individualmente'', ha detto Blagojevich.

   I sondaggi di opinione mostrano che la grande maggioranza degli americani, il 70 per cento, e' favorevole alla pena di morte. Aumentano pero' i dubbi della popolazione sulla correttezza dei meccanismi che portano alle sentenze capitali.

   I dubbi sono stati alimentati dai numerosi errori giudiziari rivelati dalla nuova tecnologia dei test del Dna, dalle crescenti scoperte di abusi da parte della polizia (con confessioni spesso estorte con la violenza), dalle discriminazioni razziali messe in luce da una lunga serie di studi.

   ''L'Illinois non e' un caso speciale: il meccanismo giudiziario dell'intero paese e' inaffidabile per quanto riguarda la PENA DI MORTE'', ha affermato oggi il senatore Patrick Leahy.

   Il New York Times rileva oggi che per la prima volta in trenta anni il numero dei detenuti nei bracci della morte Usa e' diminuito. I dati per il 2001 mostrano che mentre 175 condannati a morte hanno lasciato i bracci (66 sono stati giustiziati, 90 sono stati scarcerati o hanno visto l'esecuzione commutata, 19 sono morti per altre cause) i nuovi arrivati sono stati 155. E i dati del 2002 sembrano confermare la tendenza anche per l'anno appena concluso.

   Gli oppositori della PENA DI MORTE hanno trovato da oggi in George Ryan, a prescindere dai suoi veri motivi, un nuovo eroe.  

11-GEN-03 20:21

PENA MORTE:USA,GOVERNATORE ILLINOIS COMMUTA TUTTE ESECUZIONI

 WASHINGTON, 11 GEN - Il governatore dell'ILLINOIS George Ryan ha annunciato oggi ufficialmente la decisione di commutare nel carcere a vita le condanne a morte di tutti i 156 detenuti in attesa del boia.

   In tre casi ''particolarmente ingiusti'' Ryan ha deciso di commutare la pena di morte in una condanna a 40 anni di carcere.

11-GEN-03 

PENA MORTE: USA, DISCORSO GOVERNATORE ILLINOIS

WASHINGTON, 11 GEN - ''Saro' molto criticato, ma stanotte dormiro' molto meglio del solito''. Il governatore dell'Illinois George Ryan ha annunciato oggi l'annullamento di tutte le condanne a morte.

    ''Il nostro sistema e' stregato dal demone dell'errore: errore nel determinare la colpevolezza, errore nello stabilire chi deve morire - ha detto Ryan in un discorso alla Northwestern University di Chicago - La giustizia non e' cieca: la razza, la poverta', la geografia giocano una parte importante nei casi di pena capitale''.

   ''Quanti altri casi di condanna a morte ingiusta dobbiamo vedere prima di concordare tutti che il sistema in Illinois non funziona? - ha chiesto il governatore - Poiche' in Illinoisi il sistema della pena capitale e' arbitrario e capriccioso, e quindi immorale, ho deciso di non cercare piu' a lungo di riparare il meccanismo della morte''.

   ''Per tutte queste ragioni ho deciso di commutare tutte le condanne a morte'', ha detto Ryan tra gli applausi del pubblico dove si trovava anche uno dei tre condannati a morte scarcerati ieri dopo la grazia del governatore.

   In una lettera inviata ai familiari delle vittime il governatore ha detto di ''non essere pronto a correre il rischio di mettere a morte una persona innocente''.

   Tutti i 156 condannati vedranno commutata la pena al carcere a vita tranne tre detenuti che dovranno restare in carcere per 40 anni

Ill. Gov. Commutes Death-Row Sentences

11  ago  2003

 By DON BABWIN,

CHICAGO - Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of every inmate on Illinois' death row in an unprecedented action, saying the "demon of error" makes the state's death penalty process immoral.

Ryan's action less than two days before leaving office capped his three-year campaign to reform the death penalty process that began when he declared a moratorium on executions. On Friday, he pardoned four death row inmates who he said were wrongfully convicted.

Some of the men Ryan pardoned were in the audience for his nationally televised speech at Northwestern University law school, during which he framed the death penalty issue as "one of the great civil rights struggles of our time."

 Ryan said three years of study since he declared a moratorium on executions in 2000 only raised more questions about the how the death penalty is imposed in Illinois. He cited problems with trials, sentencing, the appeals process and the state's "spectacular failure" to reform a system that has condemned innocent men to die.

 "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error � error in determining guilt, and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die," Ryan said. "Because of all these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates."

 Ryan said he contemplated whether he'd be able to live with himself and decided he had no choice but to commute all the sentences. He sympathized with the families of murder victims, but said that their pain was only made worse because the capital punishment process leaves them in "legal limbo" as the appeals process plays out.

 Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious � and therefore immoral � I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death," Ryan said.

 The State Corrections Department said there are now 156 inmates on death row, and another person has been sentenced to death but is not yet in state custody.

 The sentences of all but three of the death row inmates will be commuted to life in prison without parole, Ryan said. Three inmates will have their sentences reduced to less than life in prison, meaning that they could eventually be released. Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton said none of the three would be released immediately.

 Ryan's decision prompted an explosion of protest from prosecutors and incoming Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, who called blanket clemency "a big mistake." Blagojevich said cases should be considered individually, adding "You're talking about people who've committed murder."

 Blagojevich said he doesn't intend to lift the moratorium on executions, but he also doesn't plan to intervene if courts impose death sentences in new cases.

 Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons attacked Ryan's use of the governor's clemency powers, among the broadest in the country.

 "The great, great majority of these people that have petitioned for commutation ... did not even contest their guilt. He's disingenuous when he says that certainty is the issue," Lyons said.

 While Ryan issued four pardons Friday of death row inmates who he said were innocent but coerced into making false confessions by police torture, his commutations include some of the state's most notorious convicted killers.

 Among those receiving clemency are a man and woman who murdered a pregnant woman, her 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and cut the baby from her womb. The baby survived.

 Others on death row include two brothers who beat a sleeping couple to death with baseball bats and a father who tortured his mute, severely retarded and handicapped stepdaughter for five years until she died.

 Illinois has the eighth largest death row in the nation. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, Illinois has executed 12 men but released 13 others from death row because new evidence exonerated them or flaws were found in the way their cases were handled. 

Other governors have issued commutations, but nothing on the scale of what Ryan has done. The most recent precedent for blanket clemency came in 1986 when the governor of New Mexico commuted the death sentences of the state's five death row inmates.

 "The only other thing that would match what he's done is in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) overturned the death penalty and 600 death sentences were reduced to life with that decision," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

 Ryan explained his decision in a letter to families of victims of the death row inmates, saying he is prepared to live with the fact that all people won't accept his actions.

 "I am not prepared to take the risk that we may execute an innocent person or execute someone who really was not sentenced to death in a fair proceeding or under a reformed capital punishment system," Ryan said in the letter, dated Friday.

 After learning of the commutations Saturday morning, Vern Feuling, whose son was murdered in 1985, was angry that the man convicted of the killing, Andrew Johnson, was taken off death row.

 "My son is in the ground for 17 years and justice is not done," Feuling said. "This is like a mockery."

 On Friday, Ryan announced he was granting pardons to four death row inmates. Hours later, Aaron Patterson, Madison Hobley and Leroy Orange walked out of prison. The fourth inmate, Stanley Howard remains in prison on another charge.

 Ryan pardoned the three, along with Howard, saying they were tortured into making false confessions. Howard was convicted of a separate crime and not released.

 Ryan has been at the center of the debate over capital punishment in the United States ever since he halted executions in Illinois three years ago.

 Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said the future of the four men should have been decided by the courts.

 "Instead, they were ripped away from (the courts) by a man who is a pharmacist by training and a politician by trade," he said.

 Devine also criticized Ryan for pardoning the men and not consulting with his office before making his decision.

 "Yes the system is broken and the governor broke it today," Devine said Friday.

 Devine's office is trying determine if the pardons could be challenged, but Devine said the clemency powers for an Illinois governor are among the broadest in the country.

 Patterson, one of the men pardoned Friday, praised the governor.

 "It took a lot of courage for what he did," Patterson said. "I was hoping for the best but I wasn't sure if he was going really to have the heart and the guts to make that call."

 "It's unbelievable," he said. "Miracles do happen."

11 January, 2003

Illinois empties death row

Other death sentences may be replaced with life in jail

 All prisoners in the US state of Illinois facing the death penalty are to have their sentences commuted.

 The Illinois capital punishment system is broken

 Governor George Ryan, a Republican who leaves office on Monday, said that no matter how fair the death penalty might seem, in practice it was often inflicted on the poor, the weak, and racial minorities.

 The decision affects 156 inmates awaiting execution in Illinois.

 "I'm going sleep well tonight knowing that I made the right decision," said Governor Ryan.

 "The Illinois capital punishment system is broken."

 The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the governor's action will send shockwaves around the nation and may lead to other states taking radical action in the future.

  My son is in the ground for 17 years and justice is not done

 However, he says opponents of capital punishment still have a long way to go before it is banned throughout the United States, even though support for it is falling.

 'Manifest injustice'

 Governor Ryan has been talking about commuting the sentences for all those on death row in Illinois "for a few days", his spokesman said.

 Governor Ryan suspended all executions in 2000

 Such a decision has not been taken in any US state for 16 years.

 The move brought angry reaction from one family whose son was killed by one of the men to be reprieved.

 "My son [William] is in the ground for 17 years and justice is not done, Vern Fuling said, the Associated Press says.

 On Friday Governor Ryan reprieved four prisoners on death row in Chicago.

 The four have always maintained they only confessed to gruesome murders after they were beaten and suffocated by Chicago police officers.

 The governor supported them.

 "I have reviewed these cases and I believe a manifest injustice has occurred... I believe these men are innocent.

 "I still have some faith in the system that eventually these men would have received justice in our courts but the old adage is true: Justice delayed is justice denied."

 Mr Ryan's views on capital punishment have changed radically over the years.

 A Republican, he was elected in 1998 as a supporter of the death penalty.

In other parts of the US, such as President Bush's home state of Texas, capital punishment still has broad public support.

'Blanket commutation' empties Illinois death row

Incoming governor criticizes decision

From Jeff Flock

January 11, 2003

 CHICAGO, Illinois - Outgoing Illinois Gov. George Ryan announced Saturday that he had commuted the sentences of all of the state's death row inmates and said he would "sleep well knowing I made the right decision."

 He delivered his unprecedented speech at Northwestern University.

 "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. What effect was race having? What effect was poverty having?

 "Because of all these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates," Ryan said.

 Ryan, a Republican who did not run for re-election in November, acknowledged during his speech that his actions would not be universally applauded. But he said he felt he had no choice but to strike a blow in "what is shaping up to be one of the great civil rights struggles of our time."

 "This is blanket commutation," Ryan said. "I didn't believe I would do it myself. I realize my decision will draw ridicule, scorn and anger from those who oppose it.

 "But I can tell you this," he added. "I'm going to sleep well tonight knowing that I made the right decision."

Ryan, who leaves office Monday, pardoned four death row inmates Friday after determining they had been tortured into confessing crimes they did not commit.

 Madison Hobley, Leroy Orange and Aaron Patterson were released after their gubernatorial pardon Friday. Another inmate, Stanley Howard, remained in prison because he had been convicted of a separate crime.

 The governor's announcement Saturday covers all of the 157 people, four of them women, on death row in four Illinois prisons. Not included in the commutations, a source in the governor's office said, will be inmates who have been convicted but not yet sentenced or who have been remanded for a new trial.

 All but three of the commutations will reduce the inmates' sentences to life without parole; the remaining three will be reduced to 40 years to life to bring their sentences in line with co-defendants.

 Gov.-elect Rod Blagojevich, the Democrat who will replace Ryan, told CNN on Saturday that he disagreed with the governor's decision.

 "I think a blanket anything is usually wrong," Blagojevich said. "We're talking about convicted murderers, and I think that is a mistake."

 Capital punishment in Illinois came under the microscope after a group of journalism students at Northwestern began looking into the case of Anthony Porter in the late 1990s.

 The students, working with their professor and a private investigator, found evidence that cleared Porter after 17 years on death row. Ryan vowed he would do whatever it took to "prevent another Anthony Porter."

 Ultimately, 13 inmates who had been sentenced to death were exonerated, and Ryan declared a moratorium on executions in the state.

 A panel Ryan appointed to examine capital punishment and review the cases of all death row inmates concluded last year that Illinois had applied capital punishment too often since it was re-established in the state in 1977.

 In Saturday's speech, Ryan slammed the use of the death penalty in his state.

 "The death penalty in Illinois is not imposed fairly or uniformly," said Ryan, but is often based on geography, race, nationality or economic status.

 "The legislature couldn't reform it," the 69-year-old governor said. "Lawmakers won't repeal it. And I won't stand for it."

 Prosecutor: 'They've had their years in court'

  Aaron Patterson, one of four death row inmates pardoned Friday, arrives at his home in Chicago, Illinois. 

 Friday's pardons, coupled with early word that the governor was planning to issue commutations, sparked outrage from prosecutors and family members of victims.

 "I believe that he is wiping his muddy shoes on the face of victims, using them as the doormat as he leaves his office," said Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons on CNN's Newsnight. "It says much more about George Ryan than it does about the death penalty."

 Ollie Dodds, whose daughter died in the fire Hobley was convicted of setting and remains convinced he is responsible, said, "This brings back memories just like it happened." 

"By his actions today, the governor has breached faith with the memory of the dead victims, their families and the people he was elected to serve," said Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine, who called the pardons "unconscionable."

 Lyons accused Ryan of arrogantly substituting his own judgment for those of juries and courts that have imposed and upheld the death sentences, assuming that "none of us get it but him."

 "Everybody has had not their day in court, they've had their years in court," Lyons said. "It's shameful that the victims of this state, in fact, have to not fear the courts, not the defense lawyers, not the defendants, but they have to fear their very own governor."

 Ryan said he decided to pardon the four men rather than commute their sentences to life because he is convinced they did not commit the crimes that sent them to death row. All four men claim they were tortured by police.

 "I believe these men are innocent or I wouldn't have pardoned them," he said Friday. "There isn't any doubt in my mind these four men were wrongfully prosecuted and wrongfully sentenced to die."

 "The system has failed for all four men, and it has failed for all of the people of this state," Ryan said in a speech at DePaul University Law School.

 'Thank God this day has finally come'

  Susan LaRoe holds a photo of her brother, whom death row inmate Andrew Johnson was convicted of killing. Johnson's sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

 Hobley, 42, who was convicted of killing seven people, including his wife and son, in a fire in 1987, said the pardon was a "dream come true."

 "Thank God that this day has finally come," he said after being released from a state prison in Pontiac.

 Orange, 52, who was condemned after being convicted of four murders in 1985, said he felt "alive" as he walked out of the Cook County Jail on Friday.

 "I didn't believe it when I first found out about it," he said. "Thank you with all my heart and soul, and please do something for the remaining guys on death row."

 Patterson, 38, said he's "going to do all right" after walking out of the Pontiac prison. He was sentenced to die for the murder of a Chicago couple in 1986.

 "It was long overdue, and I thank Governor Ryan for taking the appropriate steps and having the courage to do the right thing," he said.

 All four are part of a group of 10 death row prisoners who claim they were tortured into giving confessions under the direction of then-Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. He was fired after internal police investigators found systemic evidence of physical abuse of suspects. 

11 janvier 2003

Le gouverneur de l'Illinois gracie tous les condamn�s � mort

Par Emily Kaiser

CHICAGO  - Le gouverneur de l'Illinois a graci� l'ensemble des condamn�s � mort de son Etat, soit plus de 150 d�tenus, une d�cision susceptible de relancer le d�bat sur la peine capitale aux Etats-Unis.

  Le r�publicain George Ryan, qui quitte ses fonctions lundi, a commu� les condamnations des r�sidents du couloir de la mort en peines de prison � vie, au maximum.

 "Combien faudra-t-il encore de condamnations injustes avant de d�cider que ce syst�me ne fonctionne plus en Illinois ?", s'est interrog� Ryan devant une foule r�unie � la Northwestern University Law School, o� se trouvaient plusieurs anciens condamn�s victimes d'erreurs judiciaires.

 Cette d�cision du gouverneur fait suite � une enqu�te sur la peine capitale dans l'Etat d�cid�e il y a pr�s de trois ans apr�s qu'il eut �t� d�montr� que 13 condamn�s � mort �taient en fait innocents.

 Cette enqu�te, qui portait sur 160 affaires, a notamment d�montr� que la pauvret� jouait en la d�faveur des condamn�s et d�nonc� certains abus de pouvoir de la police.

 Ryan, qui avoue avoir �t� un fervent partisan de la peine capitale au d�but de son mandat il y a quatre ans, dit avoir commenc� � changer d'avis en voyant des victimes d'erreurs judiciaires lib�r�s, parfois 48 heures seulement avant la date pr�vue de leur ex�cution.

QUATRE CONDAMNES INNOCENTES

 "Je ne serai peut-�tre jamais � l'aise avec ma d�cision finale, mais je sais au fond de mon coeur que j'ai fait de mon mieux pour faire le bien", a-t-il d�clar�.

 e d�mocrate Rod Blagojevich, qui succ�de � Ryan � partir de lundi, a critiqu� cette d�cision.

 "Il ne peut y avoir de d�cision valable pour tous", a-t-il d�clar�. "Il s'agit de personnes qui ont commis des meurtres."

 Vendredi, Ryan avait innocent� quatre hommes condamn�s pour meurtre, indiquant qu'ils avaient avou� sous la torture de la police des crimes qu'ils n'avaient pas commis.

 Leroy Orange, l'un de ces quatre hommes, a d�clar� sur CNN �tre tr�s reconnaissant � Ryan pour sa lib�ration. Condamn� pour meurtre en 1984, il a pass� 19 ans en prison.

 Les �v�nements de l'Illinois relancent le d�bat sur la peine de mort aux Etats-Unis.

 Le s�nateur d�mocrate du Winsonsin, Russ Freingold, a r�clam� une enqu�te nationale sur la peine capitale et un moratoire sur les ex�cutions.

 D'apr�s les sondages, une majorit� d�croissante d'Am�ricains est toujours en faveur de la peine de mort.

 L'Illinois est l'un des 38 Etats am�ricains � appliquer encore la peine capitale, qui a �t� r�introduite dans le pays en 1976.

 Depuis cette date, 820 condamn�s ont �t� ex�cut�s, dont 71 l'an dernier. Il y a actuellement pr�s de 3.700 hommes et femmes dans les couloirs de la mort aux Etats-Unis.

DPA

11. Januar 2003

Alle 157 Todeskandidaten im US-Bundesstaat Illinois begnadigt

Chicago - Der Gouverneur des US-Bundesstaates Illinois hat alle 157 zum Tode verurteilten Gefangenen begnadigt. Das Rechtssystem sei defekt, sagte George Ryan in Chicago. �Ich will mit der Todesmaschinerie nicht mehr herumpfuschen�, sagte er in einer Rede. Die meisten Strafen wurden in lebenslange Haftstrafen umgewandelt. Ryan hatte die Vollstreckung von Todesurteilen in Illinois vor drei Jahren ausgesetzt, nachdem sich herausgestellt hatte, dass 13 Angeklagte zu Unrecht Todeskandidaten waren.