SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign historic legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois on Wednesday, according to the House sponsor and sources familiar with the governor's plans.
The Democratic governor on Tuesday quietly invited death penalty opponents to a private bill-signing ceremony scheduled for late Wednesday morning in his Springfield office. Quinn's office confirmed that the governor has an event at the Capitol on Wednesday to announce his decision on the death penalty measure.
"They point-blank told me they were signing the bill (Wednesday)," sponsoring Rep. Karen Yarbrough told the Tribune.
Quinn has until March 18 to sign or veto the legislation or it automatically becomes law. He was poised to deal with it late last week but decided to continue listening to both sides of the issue. On Monday, Quinn told reporters he planned to act this week.
If the governor signs the ban, he will end a capital punishment system beset by flaws and brought down by evidence that freed wrongfully convicted men who spent years on death row.
The ban would come about 11 years after then-Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions after 13 condemned inmates were cleared since Illinois reinstated capital punishment in 1977. Ryan, a Republican, cited a Tribune investigative series that examined each of the state's nearly 300 capital cases and exposed how bias, error and incompetence undermined many of them.
Since then, Illinois approved reforms to the capital punishment system, including taping interrogations under a proposal forged by President Barack Obama when he served in the Illinois Senate. Only two days before leaving office in January 2003, Ryan commuted the death sentences of 164 prisoners to life in prison. Quinn and his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, kept the moratorium in place.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down death penalty statutes in 40 states, including Illinois. Five years later, Illinois reinstated capital punishment, and it has been among the 35 states that currently allow executions. Illinois could join New York, New Jersey and New Mexico, all of which have done away with the death penalty in the last three years.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-quinn-death-penalty-0309-20110308,0,4841534.story
