Top Illinois Court Upholds Total Amnesty of Death Row

[Ms. Wonderful]

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled on Friday that former Gov. George Ryan was within his authority in commuting the sentences of all prisoners on the state's death row.

The governor may grant reprieves, pardons and commutations on his own terms, and the decisions are "unreviewable," the court said.

Two days before he left office, on Jan. 11, 2003, Mr. Ryan, a Republican, criticized the capital punishment system as fundamentally flawed and unfair. He commuted the sentences of 167 people on death row and pardoned 4 others.

In their ruling on Friday, the justices said that Mr. Ryan's use of blanket clemency was unconventional and that they hoped that future governors would instead use it in individual cases. But, the court added, the state's Constitution supports Mr. Ryan's decision.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/24/national/24DEAT.html

[alcuno]

1. Illinois

I often feel like I'm living in a different America; the good one.

[Sapphocrat]

2. Good! n/t