Daily Herald - December 15 

Will Ryan reject death penalty for terrorists?

By John Patterson 

SPRINGFIELD - Nearly three weeks ago, lawmakers overwhelmingly endorsed a set of proposed laws designed to prevent and punish terrorism in Illinois.

 But a provision that would send convicted terrorists to death row could derail the proposal as Gov. George Ryan continues to voice objections to expanding eligibility for the death penalty.

 The governor's spokesman Friday would not comment directly on how Ryan will act on the anti-terrorism package. But he reiterated the governor's lingering concerns with the death penalty process, raising the possibility Ryan could veto the death penalty provision for terrorists like Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).

 "The governor has expressed some uneasiness with expanding the death penalty at this point, given the problems we've had with the system," said Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton.

 Previously, Ryan's concerns with the death penalty led him to halt executions in Illinois, to veto a plan to make gangland killers eligible for the death penalty, and to say in April that he could not "throw the switch" to kill convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites).

 Now his concerns run headlong into the post Sept. 11 political push to combat terrorism. The anti-terrorism plan, which also expands the state's wire-tapping authority and could send someone to prison for getting on a plane with a gun, was proposed by Attorney General Jim Ryan, an Elmhurst Republican who is running for governor.

 Jim Ryan's spokesman Dan Curry noted the proposal went through several revisions to address concerns before passing the House and Senate.

 "The attorney general believes that this legislation is necessary," Curry said. "It's necessary immediately, and he would hope the governor would see fit to sign it as is."

 If Ryan rejects any part of the anti-terrorism plan it would have to return to the General Assembly for another vote. That likely means a terrorism package would not be approved for at least another couple of months. Lawmakers aren't scheduled to be back in Springfield until Jan. 9.

 "We have had 13 people nearly executed for crimes they didn't commit," Culloton said, referring to the number of people freed from death row since 1977. "So that is the problem with the administration of capital punishment in Illinois to date. How we'll handle this bill, I can't say yet. It's obviously an important issue."

 Death penalty opponents hope the governor sticks with his decisions and said that the desire to fight terrorism doesn't alter Illinois' shameful history of convicting and nearly killing the wrong person. Whether someone is wrongfully convicted of terrorism or murder, it doesn't change the fact that the system convicted the wrong person, opponents argued.

 Gov. Ryan, who is not seeking re-election, has received nationwide if not worldwide attention for halting executions in Illinois until a special panel he appointed finds ways to repair the system he described as "fraught with error." Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, Illinois has executed 12 men while 13 initially sentenced to death have been freed. The growing number of wrongful convictions and innocent men spending years on death row led him to declare that he would not authorize any more executions. The death penalty panel is expected to release its recommendations early next year.

 So far, the governor has rejected all attempts to expand death penalty eligibility until those recommendations come out. In August he vetoed a proposal that would have made someone eligible for the death penalty for killing in connection with gang activities.

 In explaining his veto, the governor said each time lawmakers expand death row eligibility, the system becomes more arbitrary and takes another step closer to resembling the one declared unconstitutional in 1972.

 Death penalty opponents said at the core of both plans is expanding such eligibility.

 "It's hard not to see how the same thing doesn't apply," said Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites).

 "The more eligibility factors there are ... the more chance there is for wrongful convictions," added Jane Bohman, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty.