1-26-99---ILLINOIS:
An unusual hearing is set to begin Thursday to determine if a death row
inmate
is smart enough to be executed for killing a South Side couple in 1982.
Anthony
Porter, 43, who received a temporary stay of execution from the Illinois
Supreme Court last year when his attorney alleged he had a very low IQ, is
scheduled to appear before Thomas Fitzgerald, the presiding judge of the
Cook County Circuit Court, for the hearing.
The
defense portion of the hearing will likely involve a trip to the Dirksen
Federal Building for all parties involved. Daniel Sanders, Porter's attorney,
has said he intends to call 5 witnesses on Porter's behalf who are inmates
on death row. Rather than face security challenges of bringing
them to Chicago, Fitzgerald determined their testimony best would be given
by video
conference
in a courtroom equipped to provide it. The hearing, which
is expected to take several days, will be much like a mini-trial, said Assistant
State's Atty. Thomas Gainer, who will
prosecute
Porter. Prosecutors will have to prove that Porter is fit to be executed
and that his IQ will not impair his ability to understand he is to be put
to death, Gainer said.
State
law requires that inmates understand their punishment before they are executed.
Sanders has not yet indicated whether he will choose to have a jury or Fitzgerald
decide his client's fate. 4 of the death row inmates
he plans to call are at Menard Correctional
Center
and one is at Pontiac Correctional Center, and all have been housed near
Porter. Sanders said they will be called to discuss Porter's character.
Porter, whose appeals had been exhausted, was scheduled to be the first
inmate to be put to death in the state's new "super-maximum" security prison
in Downstate Tamms last Sept. 23. But Porter's lawyer filed
an emergency motion to stay the execution, citing extensive evaluations by
a psychologist who says Porter has an IQ of 51--roughly half of the normal
level. The new evidence, which suggests Porter is at least moderately retarded,
gave the Supreme Court justices enough reason to order further evaluation.
(source: Chicago Tribune)
Lawyers
in the case of a Death Row inmate whose attorneys say his IQ is too low
for him to be put to death obtained a delay in a hearing on the matter until
Monday as they awaited the results of a recent medical test.
Anthony Porter, 43, received a stay of execution from the Illinois Supreme
Court last year after his attorney alleged that his very low IQ should make
him ineligible to be put to death. Porter was sentenced
to die for killing a couple in a South Side park in 1982.
When he appeared before Judge Thomas Fitzgerald, presiding judge of Cook
County
Circuit Court, on Thursday, defense attorney Daniel Sanders said he needed
more time to speak to a neurologist about the results of a magnetic resonance
imaging test of Porter's brain. Prosecutors said they also will need to
speak with the neurologist. When the hearing resumes Monday,
Fitzgerald will borrow a courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building that is
equipped with a video conference setup so other death row inmates can testify
from prison and eliminate any security concerns about them testifying in person.
After hearing evidence, Fitzgerald will determine whether Porter is fit to
be executed. State law requires that inmates sentenced to death be able to
understand the punishment. Porter's attorney says his client's IQ
is
51--roughly half of what is considered normal. "The people
of the State of Illinois cannot lose this case," said Prosecutor Thomas Gainer.
"If he truly is unfit for execution, then he
shouldn't
be executed. But if the evidence shows he is fit, then the sentence imposed
many years ago should be carried out." "I pray about this
everyday," said Porter's daughter, Evelyn Porter, 27, who attended Thursday's
brief hearing with a group of family members.
"The
truth is, he didn't (kill the couple)." "I'm trying to
save him," said Porter's mother, Clara Porter, 71. "And exonerate him," said
Evelyn Porter's maternal grandmother, Evelyn Jones,
70.
Before the Supreme Court acted, Porter had been scheduled to die last Sept.
23.
ILLINOIS:
In
Springfield, the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the deadline
for deciding whether death row inmate Anthony Porter is competent to be
executed.
Justice
Michael Bilandic vacated a previous deadline of Feb. 26 and set no new date
for Porter's hearing. Porter's attorneys claim he has an abnormally low IQ
and should not be executed. Both the Cook County state's
attorney and defense attorney Daniel Sanders
said
they want additional time to perform medical tests and pursue new
evidence
offered in two affidavits. One affidavit was signed by
William Taylor, who testified against Porter in his trial. Taylor now says
police threatened, harassed and intimidated him into naming Porter.
In the other affidavit, Walter Jackson, an inmate at Danville Correctional
Center, said the victims were killed in a dispute over money.
Porter's attorneys claim he has an abnormally low IQ and killing him would
be cruel and unusual punishment. Porter, 43, was convicted
and sentenced to death for killing Marilyn Green, 19, and Jerry Hillard,
18, as the 2 sat on bleachers at Chicago's Washington Park Pool in 1982.
Bilandic's
order requires attorneys to file status reports with the court by May 2.
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
ILLINOIS:
Margaret
Simon always knew that, one day, the knock would come on her door and the
haunting past would rush in. Last week it came. 2 female journalism students from Northwestern
who had tracked her through a network of her relatives and other tips
appeared
at her home in Milwaukee with cryptic news: An incarcerated relative has
a message for you, and we'd like an appointment to talk it over.
Simon agreed to go to a restaurant with the young women several days later.
With them was their professor, David Protess, and Chicago private investigator
Paul Ciolino. The message, they told her, was from her nephew, Walter Jackson,
now incarcerated for murder at Illinois' Danville Correctional Center, and
it urged her to tell the real story about what happened on Aug. 15, 1982.
Relief
flooded over her, she told me in an interview later that day. "I'd thought
about it all the time," she said. Telling the story "lifted a big burden
from my heart." She said she was on the scene that night,
sitting next to her good friend Marilyn Green when Green and her fiance,
Jerry Hillard, were shot and killed in Washington Park on the South Side.
Anthony
Porter is now on Illinois' death row for the killings. He was 2 days away
from receiving a lethal injection in September when doubts about his mental
fitness raised by the Capital Litigation Division--a state-funded organization
that coordinates legal efforts for the condemned--prompted the Illinois
Supreme Court to issue a temporary stay. A hearing
on that issue began Monday in Cook County Circuit Court. But Margaret Simon
said Porter was not the killer. The gunman, she said, was her now-estranged
husband, Alstory Simon, who was furious at Hillard for skimming proceeds
from the sale of illegal drugs. "I started screaming,"
after the 1st shots were fired, she said. "(Alstory) grabbed me by the arm,
and we ran out of the park." They ended up back at
her apartment, where her nephew Walter Jackson was
living.
In an independent affidavit signed in mid-January, Jackson recounted this
middle-of-the-night arrival: "Alstory took me aside and told me he had `taken
care of' Jerry and Marilyn." Margaret Simon's affidavit,
signed and videotaped Friday, continues: "The next day, Alstory and I left
the South Side of Chicago, eventually ending up in Milwaukee. We never returned."
Walter Jackson told a similar tale. And so did Offie Lee Green, the mother
of victim Marilyn Green. She repeated to me last week what for many years
she'd told anyone who would listen--that on the night her daughter was murdered,
she left home in the company of Alstory Simon and his wife.
Further, the mother said, the Simons inexplicably disappeared the next day.
By that time, police were pinning the crime on Anthony Porter, a local hoodlum
whom she believes was not involved and who has steadfastly maintained his
innocence for more than 16 years. The case against Porter
was built on the testimony of William Taylor, who told authorities he was
in the park that night and had seen Porter fire the fatal shots.
But as I reported last week, Taylor recanted his testimony in a Dec. 14 affidavit.
He said he did not see Porter with a gun and did not see who shot the victims,
but that police had coerced his testimony.
A 2nd witness who placed Porter at the scene with a gun has since died.
Efforts
to reach Alstory Simon for comment Monday were unsuccessful, but he recently
denied any knowledge of the Green-Hillard murders in a conversation with
the Northwestern investigative team. Margaret Simon said she has been
separated for 6 years from Alstory
Simon--who
served time in prison for armed robbery 20 years ago--but hasn't come forward
because she still fears him. She is 48 years old, has 13 grandchildren and
is in failing health, she said. Now what? The case against
Anthony Porter is in tatters, and the issue of his possible innocence has
overtaken the issue of his possible mental retardation.
A spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office said prosecutors
are eager to review the affidavits of Simon, Jackson and Taylor, which they
will likely obtain Tuesday. If they don't reopen the
case,
it's a safe bet someone else will.
(source:
Chicago Tribune)
Feb. 3, 1999---
ILLINOIS:
Citing
the "serious nature" of new information dug up by Northwestern University
journalism students that could exonerate death row inmate Anthony Porter,
Cook County prosecutors filed an emergency motion Tuesday to delay hearings
into whether Porter is mentally fit to die.
Porter,
44, was convicted of killing Marilyn Green, 19, and her fiance, Jerry Hillard,
18, in Washington Park on Chicago's South Side on Aug. 15, 1982. Last September,
2 days before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection, the Illinois
Supreme Court put off the execution amid
questions
about his mental competency. On Tuesday, Cook County Assistant
State's Atty. Thomas Gainer Jr. met for three hours with NU journalism professor
David Protess and five students to discuss the case. The
students, led by Protess, revisited witnesses originally interviewed by authorities
and also sought out others. The effort produced signed affidavits from 4 people
and 1 videotaped statement that appear to undercut the case against Porter.
The statements point to another man believed to be in Milwaukee.
"These affidavits include recantations of testimony at trial as well as
evidence that points to another person as having perpetrated these crimes,"
prosecutors wrote in their emergency motion. "The People believe
that
theses claims of innocence should be investigated before the fitness hearing
proceeds." Illinois Supreme Court Justice Michael Bilandic
signed an order granting a 90-day extension for the mental fitness hearing.
"We're taking it very seriously," Gainer said. "I think we need to take
a timeout here and examine these new allegations." Porter's
defense lawyer, Daniel Sanders, said he expects to file a motion claiming
his client's innocence by week's end. Among those interviewed
by the students were the state's key witness, William Taylor, who said he
was "threatened, harassed and intimidated into naming Anthony Porter" by Chicago
police--a charge police spokesman Pat Camden questioned.
The students also questioned Margaret Simon, who said, on videotape and
in an affidavit, that she was present when her now-estranged husband had
an argument with Hillard about a drug debt before pulling out a revolver
and killing the couple.
(source
for both: Chicago Tribune)Feb. 5, 1999---
A
man who spent more than 16 years on death row for a double slaying has been
freed based on evidence 1st developed by a Northwestern University journalism
professor and a group of his students. Chicago Judge Thomas Fitzgerald
ordered Anthony Porter freed on his own
recognizance
as the investigation continues. Porter cried when the judge issued his decision
today. Earlier this week, professor David Protess and his
students released a videotape confession by a Milwaukee man exonerating Porter
of the 1982 murders of 19-year-old Marilyn Green and her 18-year-old fiance,
Jerry Hillard, on the city's South Side. In his confession, Alstory
Simon said he shot the victims. On the tape, Simon says, "I felt that my life
was being threatened and before I knew anything...I just pulled it (the gun)
up and started shooting." The confession was turned over to prosecutors on
Wednesday. First Deputy Assistant State's Attorney David Erickson said
prosecutors have been investigating since they received the confession and
in light of information developed this week, seeking Porter's release was
the
"appropriate"
thing to do. He said another hearing will be held within 2 weeks to
resolve the
case.
Erickson said he has been assured by Simon's attorney that Simon will not
flee while the investigation continues. Porter's attorney, Daniel
Sanders, said he was surprised things have moved so quickly. Porter's
mother, Clara, said, "I'm just so happy I don't know what to do. I
feel good all over and I thank God for it." If Porter is cleared, he
will become the 10th death row prisoner exonerated since Illinois reinstituted
the death penalty in 1977. The
state
has executed 11 inmates, with the next scheduled execution set for March
17. In editorials today, both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago
Tribune called for a moratorium on the death penalty until questions on how
it is applied can be resolved. Gov. George Ryan, however, said he's not ready
to take such action, although he is open to a review.
(source:
United Press International)
Death Row review
Once
again, serious questions have been raised about the guilt of a death row
inmate. Surely, enough questions have been raised to persuade the state
Supreme Court to impose a moratorium on executions until there is more assurance
that the process is fair and free of mistakes. The latest case involves
Anthony Porter, convicted of fatally shooting 2 people in Washington Park
in 1982. Porter was scheduled to die last fall, but because of questions
about his IQ and mental fitness, the execution was delayed. In the
interim, Northwestern University Professor David Protess and his investigative
journalism students found evidence that Porter did not commit the murders.
They have given authorities a videotaped confession from a Milwaukee man
who said he did the killings in a drug dispute. They also turned over
an affidavit from a witness who said he did not see the shootings but named
Porter as the shooter after police questioned him for 15 hours.
We
support the death penalty in a system that affords the accused a fair trial
resulting in a verdict of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But since
capital punishment was reinstated in 1977, Illinois has had a near-record
number of wrongful death penalty convictions, with 9 death
row
inmates already exonerated. Porter could be the 10th. If the
high court will not impose a moratorium on executions, perhaps Gov. Ryan
or Attorney General Jim Ryan should order a review of all death row cases
to make sure there are no other questionable cases.
(source: Editorial, Chicago Sun-Times)
ANOTHER NEAR-MISS ON DEATH ROW
If Anthony Porter had a high IQ, he'd be dead now.
Last
September, just 2 days before he was to be executed, the Illinois Supreme
Court ordered a mental competency test to determine if Porter could understand
the charges against him and why he faced the death penalty. His lawyer
produced tests indicating Porter's IQ is 51, or
about
half the normal score of 100. While both sides were preparing for the competency
hearings, an astonishing fact emerged: Most likely, Porter is completely
innocent in the 1982 double murder that sent him to death row.
So, a few months ago, Illinois nearly claimed the record for executing the
lowest-IQ convict in the history of the U.S.--and an innocent man at
that.
Now
it seems Illinois is about to reaffirm its standing as the state with the
second-highest number of wrongful death sentences, after Florida.
If Porter's conviction is overturned, he'll be the 10th such case in Illinois
since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977.
This
must frighten anyone, regardless of whether they support or oppose the death
penalty. Something has gone terribly, chillingly wrong here, and innocent
people have almost paid with their lives.
The
near-execution of Anthony Porter is more compelling evidence that Gov. George
Ryan and Senate President James "Pate" Philip ought to drop their opposition
to a moratorium on executions until the state's methods for applying this
irrevocable sentence are reconsidered.
Two
years ago, the American Bar Association, which does not oppose the death
penalty on principle, called for a national moratorium on its use.
But
in response to public clamor for tough-on-crime measures, Congress and many
states instead have moved to expedite executions and short-circuit appeals.
Aspects
of Porter's ordeal through the justice system resemble those of Rolando
Cruz and the Ford Heights Four, all minority defendants who lived on the
social and economic fringes of society.
Porter's
1st lawyer didn't mount much of a defense against a case built on the testimony
of one witness. That witness now has recanted his confession and claims
to have been manhandled by police interrogators seeking a quick solution.
In
the past few days, a Milwaukee man implicated himself in the 1982 murders.
Why
didn't the police or the defense lawyers do a better investigation? Was
the only witness intimidated by policing into lying so Porter could be framed?
How could this case come so horrifyingly close to the point that an innocent
man would be put to death?
Does
Illinois want to answer these questions before an innocent person dies,
or after that happens?
(source:
Editorial, Chicago Tribune)
ILLINOIS:
In Springfield, Gov. George
Ryan remains opposed to temporarily halting executions in Illinois, despite
yet another case in which new evidence suggests an innocent man spent years
on death row.
"I know people use these
reversals as an argument for a moratorium or why the death penalty should
be revised, but an argument can also be made that the system is working as
designed," Dave Urbanek, spokesman for the Republican governor, said Friday.
The state's long appeals
process gave a Northwestern University journalism class time to uncover evidence
of the death row inmate's innocence, Urbanek said. "The media is part of the
system," he added.
Illinois in recent years
has seen nine men released from death row.
A 10th, Anthony Porter,
was sent home on bond Friday after another man confessed to the 1982 murders
for which Porter was convicted.
While some question the
constitutionality of a moratorium imposed by lawmakers or the governor, death
penalty critics say these cases suggest Illinois should halt executions and
review why so many innocent people have been sentenced to death.
"I think we're facing an
uphill battle, but we're getting closer with each revelation of truth," said
Rep. Coy Pugh, a Chicago Democrat sponsoring a moratorium.
Rep. James Durkin, R-Westchester,
argued the legislature could repeal the death penalty completely but not
halt executions. Such a moratorium, or one imposed by the governor, would
improperly interfere with the judicial branch's power to impose the death
penalty and set execution dates, he said.
Ryan would support a review
of the death penalty process but not a moratorium, Urbanek said.
Durkin said lawmakers would
be better off focusing on why innocent people have been sentenced to die.
He said a key part of the problem may be that too many defense attorneys lack
the training and experience to handle capital cases.
One scholar, however, said
he doubts legislation imposing a moratorium would be unconstitutional.
Judges play a role in executions,
said University of Illinois law professor James Pfander, but "the legislature
still ultimately has the decision to make about whether it wants to impose
the death penalty as one in an array of punishments."
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
The man whose videotaped
confession to 2 killings freed another man from death row last week has
surrendered to police.
Alstory Simon, 48, was formally
charged Sunday with the 1982 killings of 2 teenagers. His estranged wife,
Inez Jackson, also surrendered to Chicago police and was charged with obstruction
of justice for keeping her husband's role in the slayings a secret, authorities
said.
They both were scheduled
to appear in bond court today.
Anthony Porter, now 43,
was freed Friday from Cook County Jail after 17 years behind bars. Last September,
he was within 2 days of execution for the killings when the Illinois Supreme
Court decided to review his case because of his low IQ.
Witnesses in the case against
Porter have now allegedly recanted their testimony.
Simon, of Milwaukee, plans
to plead innocent to the charges, said his lawyer, Jack Rimland.
In a telephone interview
with WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee, Rimland said Simon's
videotaped comments "indicated
he was acting in self-defense, based on my viewing of it."
Police say Simon confessed
Wednesday to the fatal shootings of Jerry Hillard, 18, and Marilyn Green,
19, while being questioned on videotape by Chicago private investigator
Paul Ciolino.
Ciolino worked on the case
with journalism students from Northwestern University, who also say they obtained
a confession in a previously videotaped interview.
Porter is the 10th inmate
freed from death row in Illinois since the death penalty was reinstated
in 1977.
The charges against Porter
will not be dismissed until prosecutors review the videotapes of Simon and
other evidence, said Asst. State's Atty.Thomas Gainer.
(source: Chicago Tribune)ILLINOIS:
(source: Chicago Tribune)ILLINOIS:
Porter, a convicted murderer,
was freed from an Illinois prison Saturday.
A professor and students
from a Northwestern University investigative journalism class had collected
evidence indicating that he was innocent.
They found another man who
admitted on videotape that he was the killer.
That man has been arrested.
In September, Porter's execution
was stayed just 48 hours before it was due to be carried out. The Illinois
Supreme Court halted the proceedings because of questions about his mental
fitness. His IQ is 51.
But the investigative journalism
students did not concentrate on the impropriety of executing a mentally deficient
killer. Rather, they focused on the question of his alleged guilt. They tracked
down and re-interviewed witnesses. One eyewitness recanted his testimony against
Porter, saying that investigators had pressured him into implicating the
man.
The students found a woman
who pointed to her ex-husband as the killer.
Then a private investigator
interviewed the ex-husband, who made a videotaped statement claiming he
killed in self-defense.
If the videotaped statement
holds up, Porter would become the 10th death-row inmate to be exonerated
in Illinois since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. A previous Northwestern
University investigative journalism class was responsible for freeing 4 of
the 10 in one case in
1996. Nationwide, 76 people
have been released from death row after evidence turned up showing that they
had been wrongly accused. (None of the cases was in Nebraska.)
For proponents of the death
penalty, those statistics have to be deeply troubling. When the penalty is
death, there is no margin for error. Any possibility of innocence should
be pursued - not solely by a defense attorney but by investigators and prosecutors,
too. Any hint of improper
pressure on witnesses to
bring about a conviction and death sentence should be wrung out of the system.
When a human life is at stake, ironclad certainty must be the rule.
Improper pressure on witnesses
corrupts the system. When such behavior comes to light, capital punishment
takes a hit that is difficult for its advocates to counter. Each time an innocent
person is discovered on death row, capital punishment comes that much closer
to being repealed - brought down because of mistakes by some of the very
people who support the death penalty.
Porter, 43, spent 17 years
on death row for a crime that another man now admits. Porter was within hours
of having his life taken by the state. He was forced to ride the rollercoaster
of trials and appeals for no good reason.
How does a society make
up for 17 years taken out of the prime of a man's life? It doesn't. It can't.
But what happened in Illinois can serve as a warning to a justice system that
wields the power of life and death: Mistakes must not happen. Conscientious
people must see to it.
ILLINOIS:
Cook County State's Attorney
Richard Devine says he's adding steps to the review system his office uses
in capital cases.
The announcement comes less
than a week after former death row inmate Anthony Porter was released from
prison after another man confessed to the crimes for which Porter was convicted.
Porter is the 10th condemned
prisoner to have been released since Illinois reinstated the death penalty
in 1977.
Speaking to the North Suburban
Bar Association today in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Devine said trial
supervisors and deputy supervisors have begun "more intensive personal participation"
before charges are even approved in potential death penalty cases.
When a request for capital
punishment is made, Devine and other top officials in his office will meet
with trial assistants to identify unresolved questions in the case.
In cases where a defendant
claims innocence, the prosecutor's office is expanding its current review
of post-conviction petitions and hearings.
Lastly, after a capital
trial, Devine said he plans to conduct a comprehensive, personal review of
the case. The review would come after a final appeal by the defendant but
before the defendant makes a petition for clemency from the governor.
Noting that Cook County
handles the majority of the state's capital cases, Devine said, "We want
our office's review system to be as full, fair and complete as possible at
every stage, from approval of charges, to trial, through the appellate process
and through post-conviction
analysis."
(source: Reuters)
As state legislators and
the Illinois Supreme Court struggle to determine a course of action following
the release of Anthony Porter--the 10th death row inmate to go free--Cook
County State's Atty.
Richard Devine on Tuesday
issued a 4-point program designed to heighten scrutiny of capital prosecutions.
Defense lawyers and death
penalty opponents said the changes are a positive step, but they contend
that serious efforts are needed by law enforcement authorities to implement
them in a fashion that would make a difference and that more should be done.
In an address to the North
Suburban Bar Association in Wilmette, Devine promised to dispatch supervisory
attorneys to police stations to oversee attorneys in the felony review unit.
The supervisors will personally review evidence, question witnesses and take
confessions in all cases in which the death penalty could be sought, he said.
In addition, he said he
personally would review, along with other top lawyers in his office, all
potential capital cases before the ultimate punishment would be sought. On
each case, a veteran prosecutor will be appointed to review the file and
act as "devil's advocate" to ensure
that the cases merit such
action, he said.
Further, Devine said his
office would not use procedural grounds to fight post-conviction petitions
in which "bona fide claims of innocence" are raised and would instead agree
to hearings on the evidence.
Finally, Devine said his
office would make a "comprehensive, personal review of evidence and legal
proceedings in all death penalty cases after all appeals have been exhausted
and before a petition of clemency is filed with the governor."
"I don't want to be a state's
attorney who, 10 or 15 years from now, people will say I didn't do everything
humanly possible on every capital case," Devine said in an interview. He was
the top deputy under then-State's Atty. Richard Daley when Porter was convicted.
Cook County Public Defender
Rita Fry, whose assistants defend the majority of death cases, hailed Devine's
remarks but remained skeptical.
"The basic reality is the
state's attorney is the one who seeks the death penalty," she said. "If he's
putting in a hyper-felony review and a special review committee, that is well
and good, but he's got to understand that he is the one requesting death.
"If he is willing to say
they are going to do things differently, wonderful, but the proof is in the
pudding."
In his address to the bar
group at the Wilmette Park District Golf Club, Devine said, "In the name of
the people, our office must do justice not only for victims, with vigorous
prosecution of crime, but for defendants, with a review process that is equally
vigorous."
About the same time Tuesday,
Porter's attorneys appeared in court to file a petition seeking a hearing
to obtain a finding of their client's innocence and obtain dismissal of
his convictions for the 1982 murders of Marilyn Green, 19, and Jerry Hillard,
18. Another man, Alstory Simon,
has implicated himself.
Defense attorney Daniel
Sanders said he plans to seek funds from the Illinois Court of Claims, which
can provide a lump sum of about $140,000 to those who have been wrongly imprisoned.
Meanwhile, in Springfield,
leaders of all 3 branches of government said they believe the situation
bears discussion by somebody.
The question is: "Who?"
On Tuesday, House Speaker
Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) said he believes nothing will happen unless
Gov. George Ryan calls a summit meeting to discuss it. At the same time,
a spokesman for Ryan said the governor would be pleased to take part in such
a meeting but he's unlikely to convene it himself.
A vocal minority of lawmakers
continues to agitate for the state to put a hold on executions.
Also on Tuesday, Illinois
Supreme Court Justice Moses Harrison issued a statement strongly urging
the legislative leaders and the governor to meet to "address the problems
presented by our present death penalty law" and to consider the idea of a
reprieve for Death Row inmates.
"With the next execution
scheduled for March, there is no time to delay,"
Harrison said in the statement.
Supreme Court Chief Justice
Charles Freeman has ordered research into all 10 exonerations to see what
went wrong in those cases--although he already has said he doesn't believe
the justices have the authority to impose a temporary moratorium on executions.
Among lawmakers calling
for a temporary halt is state Rep. Coy Pugh (D-Chicago), who has filed a
bill that would impose a one-year moratorium on all executions while an exhaustive
study is conducted on the cases of all inmates on death row. On Wednesday,
Pugh is expected to call for creation of a commission jointly appointed by
the House and Senate to
conduct that review.
Some lawmakers say they
are deeply troubled by the development in Porter's case and its implications
for the criminal justice system that put him behind bars.
But even though other public
officials have echoed their sentiments, very few have stepped forward and
called for change. Many privately acknowledge they don't wish to appear soft
on crime.
Devine said that the increased
scrutiny by lawyers in the felony review division--who approve filing of all
felony charges--requires on-site involvement by supervisors rather than a
paperwork review at a later date as has been done in the past.
He said he would personally
participate in the decision to seek the death penalty and promised that
the lawyers assigned to be "devil's advocates" would take their assignment
seriously because "their future is at stake."
Devine said the office seeks
the death penalty in about 20 to 25 cases annually. Though he did not have
specifics on the number of refusals, he said he is aware of "about 10 or so"
cases in the past several weeks in which the office decided against seeking
the death penalty.
Devine conceded that the
change in approach to post-conviction claims will be "a judgment call. It
has to be a bona fide claim of innocence, not somebody who (is caught) with
a gun in his hand or 12 knives."
Tim Lohraff, a lawyer for
condemned inmate Aaron Patterson, called on Devine to do even more, including
rejecting the death penalty in certain instances, abandoning the use of jailhouse
informants in capital cases, not seeking the death penalty when confessions
are the only evidence and not using unsigned confessions.
(source: Chicago Tribune)
ILLINOIS:
For years, Illinois' top
politicians didn't worry about their position on the death penalty: They
were tough on crime and favored executions.
That changed following last
week's release of Anthony Porter. One by one, officials said they wanted to
review the system to make sure an innocent person is not put to death, though
they did not offer concrete ideas about how to go about it and suggested that
someone else had to take the lead.
But on Wednesday, Gov. George
Ryan acknowledged that the ultimate power to stop executions lies in his office
and said he would convene a meeting to discuss reforms in the review process
for Death Row inmates.
"I think there's got to
be some kind of another check put into place. I'm just not sure yet what
it is," he said.
Ryan's acknowledgment coincided
with a change of heart from Mayor Richard Daley, who said that while he remains
a supporter of the death penalty, he now believes the cases of all condemned
inmates should be reviewed before their executions are carried out.
Both men stopped short of
calling for an overhaul of the system, but their comments appear to reflect
that two of the state's most accomplished politicians sense a change in the
political landscape.
Last week, Ryan's spokesman
said that Porter's case proved that the legal system worked, even though
the facts that freed the inmate were uncovered by a group of journalism students
and a private investigator. On Wednesday, the governor disagreed.
"I'm not sure the system
worked," Ryan said. "In the end, it comes down to me, and I'm the guy who
has to look at the facts and figures" in death penalty cases.
Ryan said he has been in
discussions about calling a high-powered conference of top officials in the
state's judicial, legislative and executive branches.
"I don't have a problem
calling a meeting, but I want to have the right people at the meeting," he
said.
Porter, who last year came
within 48 hours of execution and was released from prison last week, is the
10th person freed from death row since capital punishment was reinstated
in Illinois in 1977.
His case has prompted calls
for a yearlong moratorium on executions to allow for further study of the
issue.
Ryan's proposal doesn't
go so far. Nor do the reforms proposed Wednesday by Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan,
who opposes a moratorium but wants to increase funding for appeals by death
row inmates.
But the actions by 2 law-and-order
conservative Republicans add up to a political acknowledgment that the public's
confidence in the death penalty has been shaken.
"I think everybody understands
what's at stake here," the governor said.
"An innocent man was about
to die, and thank God he didn't. And now we want to make sure that scenario
doesn't reappear and come back and haunt us in the future."
Porter's brush with state-sanctioned
death may give momentum to those seeking a death-penalty moratorium. But
even the term "moratorium" has meant different things to different people.
Ryan's administration has
opposed a moratorium, saying it would prevent anyone convicted of 1st-degree
murder during the review period from getting a death sentence. But supporters
said it meant only that no executions would be carried out during that time.
Besides allowing a review
of existing cases, however, a moratorium would buy death-penalty opponents
time to try to sway public opinion.
"It allows us to think.
It allows us to talk about this issue. It allows the public to understand
what it means when...we are willing to take away absolutely every right a
human being has," said Emile Schepers, program director of the Chicago Committee
to Defend the Bill of Rights.
Schepers was part of a protest
outside Daley's office on Wednesday asking the mayor to support a moratorium
and to apologize for his role as Cook County state's attorney when Porter
was convicted.
"Society can apologize....Personally,
no," Daley told reporters. And the mayor, a supporter of capital punishment,
said that it was up to Ryan to call for a death-penalty moratorium.
But with Daley apparently
feeling some pressure in the midst of a re-election campaign, the
mayor's press office later issued a statement saying he backed a moratorium
on executions to allow for an extensive review of each case.
Daley's stance is mostly
symbolic--he no longer has anything to do with the criminal justice system--but
IT is a dramatic change for a former county prosecutor who has been vocal
in his support for the death penalty.
In addition, 16 members
of the City Council on Wednesday introduced a resolution calling for a moratorium
on executions in Illinois "until such time as the procedure leading up to
a death sentence is studied, reviewed and revised to prevent future wrongful
convictions" and until the
appellate process is similarly
reviewed.
"I don't think a civilized
society can execute people without being sure" of their guilt, said Ald.
Freddrenna Lyle (6th), a lawyer and one of the resolution's primary sponsors.
"We are making too many mistakes."
But the governor appears
uninterested in a blanket moratorium.
One source close to Ryan
indicated that an intensive case-by-case review would be sufficient and that
if there was some question of innocence, a temporary stay could be issued.
"It doesn't matter how bad
the crime is, the question is whether they're guilty or not," Ryan said.
"I still support the death
penalty, and there's no question it ought to be applied fairly and accurately
and I'm willing to work with anyone to ensure that process goes on. We're
still looking at the best way to do that," he said.
Atty. Gen. Ryan, meanwhile,
said he would push for 4 new safeguards that would help prevent near-misses
such as Porter's.
Starting immediately, Ryan
said his office will conduct an expanded review of each capital case before
requesting execution dates from the Illinois Supreme Court. Attorneys for
the defendant as well as prosecutors would be included in that review, which
would provide one
last opportunity to air
claims of innocence.
He also said that he would
push for legislation that would give death row inmates additional opportunities
to prove their innocence, including a multimillion-dollar increase in funding
to provide legal and investigative help for condemned prisoners and a separate
review board
to hear clemency petitions
in capital cases.
The special panel would
have more powers than the current Prisoner Review Board to order additional
investigations or subpoenas if it determined a need for further review.
"It's a safety net to expand
the safeguards that would be there at the 11th hour to pursue any claims of
actual innocence," said Jim Ryan, who as DuPage County state's attorney oversaw
the prosecution of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, who were both condemned
to death and later freed.
(source: Chicago Tribune)
2-13-99----
ILLINOIS:
In Springfield, Gov. George
Ryan said Friday he is not interested in holding a summit of state officials
to discuss the idea of temporarily halting executions in Illinois.
A growing number of officials
and death-penalty critics want a moratorium on executions to allow time
for a review of why 10 apparently innocent men have been sent to death row
and later cleared.
Ryan called the situation
"scary" but said he does not plan to convene a summit.
"I don't see a need for
a knee-jerk reaction at this point," the Republican governor said. "When
they talk about a moratorium and they talk about a summit, I'm not prepared
to do any of those things at this point."
He promised to review each
new death penalty case carefully and, if necessary, meet with judges, police
or anybody with useful information about whether an execution should be halted.
"I think we can do this
case by case," Ryan said.
The state's next execution
-- of Andrew Kokoraleis, convicted of a ritualistic mutilation and murder
in DuPage County -- is set for March 17.
Ryan spokesman Dave Urbanek
said the governor is still talking informally to various officials, including
the attorney general, about problems with Illinois' death penalty system.
But Ryan said he does not
know what good would come of a general meeting of officials such as House
Speaker Michael Madigan or state Supreme Court Justice Charles Freeman.
"I'm not sure what Madigan
and those people do at a meeting," Ryan said. "The decision ultimately is
mine."
The latest call for a moratorium
began last week, when Anthony Porter was sent home after coming within 2 days
of being executed for a 1982 double murder. Another man has now confessed
to the slayings. Ryan said Friday he has inquired about speeding up state
payments that Porter might be owed for wrongful imprisonment. But the Cook
County state's attorney has asked him to drop the effort until Porter's legal
status is cleared up, Ryan said.
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
In Springfield. State
Rep. Tom Ryder, R-Jerseyville, wants to remove a state requirement that doctors
participate in executions of death row prisoners.
"Doctors take an oath to
heal, not to end life," Ryder said. "The members of the medical profession
have a problem with being mandated to assist in executions."
Ryder, a member of House
Republican leadership, has sponsored similar legislation before, but he said
he is a strong death penalty supporter.
"The problem is that for
physicians to participate in this procedure is unethical," said Dr. Richard
Geline, president of the Illinois State Medical Society, which supports the
legislation. "Our job is to heal and to protect."
Attorney General Jim Ryan
remains opposed to removing doctors from the executions, according to Jerry
Owens, a spokesman for Ryan. "It changes the process if you don't have a physician
there," Owens said. "We feel we have to keep the physician involved for constitutional
protection."
If Ryder's bill became law,
Owens said the state could be open to litigation.
Ryder's proposal comes amidst
the current controversy over how Illinois administers its death penalty, stemming
from the release of Anthony Porter, a Chicago man who spent 16 years on death
row for a murder he did not commit.
Porter became the 10th man
freed from death row in Illinois since the state reinstated the death penalty
in the late 1970s. 11 have been executed.
Several anti-death penalty
groups have demanded that Illinois halt executions until the state reviews
the current system. The next scheduled execution is in March.
"I would hope that this
would be included in any type of review (of the death penalty statute),"
Ryder said.
The Republican lawmaker
said his bill could get more attention by the Legislature because of Porter's
release.
"Maybe we could do better
(legislatively) with this than we have in the past," Ryder said.
Current law requires a doctor
to oversee the medical procedures involved during an execution. The doctors
are chosen confidentially at the "total discretion" of the Illinois Department
of Corrections director, according to Brian Fairchild, an agency spokesman.
He said the agency has not taken a position on Ryder's current bill.
Illinois executes its prisoners
by lethal injection. 33 types of drugs are injected intravenously.
The first drug administered
is a fast acting barbiturate. Then, a paralytic pancuronium bromide is injected
to stop respiration, followed by potassium chloride, which stops the beating
of the heart.
After injections, a coroner
certifies the prisoner's death and a doctor pronounces time of death.
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
#403 - Written 14 February 1999 AN "IMPARTIAL" KILLING
copyright 1999 Mumia Abu-Jamal
"The
Hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine."
--Alexander Pope (1688-1714), _The Rape
of the Lock_ (1712)
The dog days of August, 1982 drew several people to the pools in Chicago's Washington Park, strangers who would meet and be thereafter linked for life.
Among them, Marilyn Green and Jerry Hillard, who would be shot to death,
after being robbed. Also, Henry Williams and William Taylor, 2 men
who would give incriminating statements and testify against a man named Anthony
Porter, who would be arrested based on these statements, and on the testimony
of a cop named Anthony Liance, who swore Porter was the man he stopped, frisked,
and released at the crime scene shortly after the killings, as
the man was unarmed.
Porter would be tried by a jury with at least one member who attended church with the mother of a victim (who told her fellows on the panel that deliberations wasn't necessary, "as far as she was concerned, they could vote guilty right then"). This jury would convict of two counts of murder, two counts of armed robbery and unlawful restraint against witness Henry Williams, and two counts of unlawful weapons use. Porter would be sentenced to 30 years for the robbery and unlawful restraint charges, and to death.
He filed appeals to every court that he could, and was rejected by every one.
When Porter complained of the juror, the Illinois Supreme Court found such
a relationship was not prejudicial, and "mere suspicion of bias or prejudice"
was "not sufficient" to reverse
the verdict [from _State
v. Porter_, 111 Ill. 2nd 386, 405 (1986)]. The Court majority neatly
affirmed Porter's "convictions and sentences" thusly:
"The clerk of this court is directed to enter an order setting Wednesday, May 21, 1986 on which the sentence of death, entered in the circuit court of Cook County, is to be carried out (pp. 406-7)."
After several stays, Porter came within 2 days of death when the court granted a stay to examine his mental competency, occasioned by his low I.Q.
But, the issue wasn't his incompetence but his innocence, which was determined
not by his defense lawyers, not by the state or federal judiciary, certainly
not by the prosecutors, but by
several young people, students
of Northwestern University's journalism class. They solved the case in 4 months!
After almost 17 years on Death Row, Porter walked away from the executioner, after another man explained on tape how he killed the two swimmers in a drug deal gone sour. Late last December one of the witnesses, Taylor, told N.U. students that the cops "threatened, harassed and intimidated" him into testifying, and reiterated his original statement to cops on the crime scene that he didn't see Porter kill anyone.
Ah, what of the actual killer?
The cops interviewed him the day after the killings, and tried to get him
and his wife (who witnessed) to give testimony against the guy they had
already fingered--Anthony Porter.
Alstory Simon sat and listened
as they tried to convince him Porter killed two people that he killed, and
looked at mug shots of their key suspect, and promptly fled the state.
Porter's appeal, opposed by the then-State's Attorney (now Chicago Mayor)
Richard Daley, was little more than an empty formality. Had the D.A.,
State's Attorney, County judge R.L.
Sklovowski, Illinois Supreme
Court, or Chicago Police had their way, Porter would've been dead today--years
before his innocence was proven.
But Anthony Porter, like most on Death Row, was poor, and that is the quality of legal representation he got--poor. That factor, joined with police passion to convince witnesses they had the right guy, and the blind ambition of prosecutors and judges to use Porter like a political stepping stone, all but insured his condemnation to Death Row, and his remaining there.
He got exactly the same kind of "fair trial" that hundreds get every day, and will get tomorrow. And the same "appeal."
The system doesn't work. It wasn't designed to. It was designed
to look like it does. It sucked almost 17 years of LIFE from an innocent
man, whose alibi was treated like the cruel,
cold, heartless joke of
a Constitution. That is, glanced at, spoken of, and ultimately ignored.
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