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death penalty Ill. Gov. Commutes 167 Death Sentences Calling the death penalty process "arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral," Gov. George Ryan cleared Illinois' death row Saturday, commuting 167 condemned inmates' sentences in the broadest attack on the death penalty in decades. Ryan's decision came three years after he temporarily halted state executions to examine the system's fairness.
"I had to act," he said. "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error -- error in determining guilt, and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die." |