Death penalty on trial

Chicago

The state of Illinois this week launched clemency hearings for nearly all of its 158 death-row inmates. Gov. George Ryan halted executions in Illinois three years ago after DNA evidence showed that several convicted murderers were innocent. As part of a wholesale review of the state’s capital-punishment system, Ryan is considering commuting all death sentences to life in prison. “This is remarkably historic,” said David Elliot of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. “All eyes in the death-penalty movement are on Illinois.” Relatives of murder victims expressed outrage. So did prosecutors, who said many of those now eligible for life sentences had committed murders of horrific brutality. One death-row inmate, for example, starved his 16-month-old daughter to death. “They shouldn’t kill this guy,” said John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cooks County state attorney. “They should tear his fingernails off one at a time.”

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