Call for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty in Illinois

In the last two and a half years, seven men who had been on Illinois' Death Row have been found not guilty on appeal and have been released from prison.* This statistic suggests that there is something terribly wrong with the Illinois death penalty statute or its administration, or both.

The undersigned bar organizations and attorneys therefore call upon the State of Illinois to declare a one-year moratorium on imposition of the death penalty so that a study of the system can be conducted and reforms can be implemented to prevent an innocent person from being convicted of capital crimes.

The moratorium will not suspend any prosecutions or appellate procedures; it will simply provide that once appeals are exhausted, executions will not take place during the one-year moratorium.

Some of us oppose capital punishment. Others of us believe it is necessary in certain circumstances. None of us -- indeed, no right-thinking person -- believes innocent persons should be put to death by the state. We must do all we can to assure that that never happens in Illinois.

We plan to take the following actions:

1. Draft legislation amending the Illinois death penalty statute to provide that no executions can take place for one year and establishing a bi-partisan commission to study the system and recommend reforms. Obtain the cooperation of one or more legislators to introduce it.

2. Urge Gov. Jim Edgar to appoint a study commission and to announce that he intends to grant a reprieve in the meantime to any person scheduled to be executed.

3. File a petition with the Illinois Supreme Court (either independently or on behalf of one or more defendants), calling upon the court to appoint a study commission and to declare that it will not set dates for executions in the meantime.

(Action by any one of the above three would trigger a study and a moratorium)

4. Urge Attorney General Jim Ryan to immediately re-examine all death penalty cases currently on appeal to attempt to ascertain the guilt or innocence of the defendants. The attorney general must cease the practice of automatically pressing for execution of every defendant sentenced to death.

5. Urge Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine to immediately review his office's procedures for handling capital cases to ensure that innocent persons are not prosecuted.

If a study commission is formed, it should be asked to address the following specific factors which lead to wrongful convictions, among others:

1. Misconduct by prosecutors and police officers, including fabrication of evidence of guilt and suppression of evidence of innocence.

2. Inadequacy of funding of defense counsel at trial, on appeal, and in post-conviction proceedings.

3. Prejudicial news media. The publicity surrounding some murders puts tremendous pressure on police and prosecutors to arrest, convict, and execute.

4. Reliance on questionable witness testimony. Too often, defendants are implicated by persons who are either incompetent or are induced to lie to win their own freedom.

5. Failure to investigate exculpatory evidence after conviction. One approach would be to give capital defendants the right to have physical evidence examined using techniques not available when their cases were tried.

6. Questionable use of confessions in prosecutions. One approach would be to require that all confessions in murder cases be videotaped.

* Dennis Williams and Verneal Jimerson, Cook County (police failed to invesigate leads that another person was the killer; he has now been charged; prosecutors relied on questionable witness testimony); Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, DuPage County (seven police officers and prosecutors have been indicted in connection with fabricating evidence of guilt); Joseph Burrows, Iroquois County (the State's key witness eventually admitted she was the killer); Gary Gauger, McHenry County (Appellate Court found police didn't even have probable cause to arrest him); Carl Lawson, St. Clair County (won a retrial on appeal, and retrial jury acquitted him).

Signed:

THE CHICAGO COUNCIL OF LAWYERS 3/21/97