[Peace] NG supports death penalty...

[Brian Dolinar]

despite their knowledge that at least one man locally - Patrick Thompson -
was wrongly convicted.
While not eligible for death penalty, Patrick's case shows an innocent man
can be found guilty,
even in the enlightened community of Urbana-Champaign.

BD
[image: The News-Gazette.com]   Killings raise death penalty issue Monday
July 14, 2008

Gov. Blagojevich doesn't limit political gimmicks just to the state's budget
fiasco. Here's another.

The Illinois State Bar Association recently joined a growing chorus of
critics who have urged lawmakers to end the death penalty moratorium charade
in this state and formally abolish capital punishment.

But the timing was terrible. Just as the lawyers were speaking up in
opposition to capital punishment another career criminal in Illinois was
reminding the public why such an extreme penalty is sometimes necessary.

Nicholas Sheley, a 28-year-old thug from Sterling with a long arrest record,
was taken into custody in Granite City near St. Louis after a two-state
murder spree and highly publicized manhunt. His eight alleged victims ranged
in age from 2 to 95.

These crimes cry out for retribution, and prosecutors are lending a
sympathetic ear. The betting is that Sheley will be tried first in Missouri
before his case moves to Illinois.

Why? Missouri has a death penalty in reality, and Illinois has a death
penalty in theory.

In 2000, former Gov. George Ryan, then under investigation and now in
prison, made himself a hero in some quarters by declaring a moratorium on
the death penalty in Illinois. Three year later, as he was leaving office,
Ryan commuted the death sentences of the 167 residents of death row.

Since then, the Illinois Supreme Court on its own ordered a series of
reforms designed to protect against wrongful convictions. The Legislature,
taking its cue from recommendations issued by a task force headed by the
late Paul Simon, approved a second set of reforms designed to build
additional safeguards into the process.

In the meantime, crime continues and newly convicted murderers have been
sentenced to death in Illinois. It takes at least a decade to appeal these
convictions to finality, so Gov. Rod Blagojevich's decision to continue
Ryan's moratorium is merely a symbolic exercise.

Still, his decision has a real-world impact. Illinois has a law on its book
that its chief executive publicly refuses to enforce. But rather than take
the heat for advocating abolition, Blagojevich wants to continue the fiction
that this state has a death penalty.

Death penalty foes are tiring of this ruse, although their solution is to
abolish capital punishment altogether. That's why death penalty foes, like
the lawyers' group, speak out from time to time. They're trying to provide
the political cover necessary to persuade the Legislature and governor to
pursue abolition.

Then along comes another outrageous case, one that will require Missouri
officials to act while Illinois' merely talk. Unless the powers that be find
the courage to face this issue head on, *it's time to carry out the law as
written*.

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/attachments/20080714/a12254f8/attachment.html