Illinois House committee votes to abolish death penalty

Mar 6, 2003 

By KRISTY HESSMAN, 

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - An Illinois House committee voted Thursday to abolish the death penalty, raising the stakes in the long debate over how to respond to flaws in the state's capital punishment system.

The 8-4 vote by the judiciary committee  sends the bill to the House.

 The vote followed dramatic testimony from men who were sentenced to die for crimes they said they did not commit.

 Aaron Patterson, one of four men pardoned in January by then-Gov. George Ryan, described being given electric shocks and suffocated by Chicago police until he signed a false confession.

 Ryan halted executions in Illinois in 2000 after 13 men on Illinois' death row were found to have been wrongly convicted. Before leaving office, the Republican governor granted clemency to everyone facing executions, effectively clearing death row.

 Lawmakers have not acted on the sweeping changes that Ryan recommended for Illinois' death penalty system, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich has said he supports the death penalty.

 Democrats now control both legislative chambers, increasing the chances that a bill to abolish the death penalty could reach the governor's desk. But that does not mean passage is likely. Even many Democrats who see flaws in the death penalty system may have doubts about eliminating it entirely.

 Some supporters of the death penalty say it provides justice for the victims of horrible crimes, while some critics argue that the system cannot be fixed and the death penalty should be eliminated.

 "It is just outrageous," said Gary Gauger, one of the four men pardoned by Ryan. "The death penalty has no useful business in a civilized society."