Illinois Governor Pat Quinn refuses to be pinned down on death penalty repeal

SPRINGFIELD — — Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday that he would "follow my conscience" in deciding whether to sign a bill abolishing the death penalty that has been approved by the General Assembly.

With the matter solely in his hands after historic votes by the state House and Senate, Quinn declined to give a firm answer on the direction he plans to take.

But the governor did point to the state's history of "serious problems" with the death penalty, which he said could have resulted in "terrible tragedies" if inmates wrongfully condemned to die had not been exonerated.

Quinn also said the opinions of legislators are "very serious indeed. These are men and women who went before the voters and got elected in their districts, and they voted their conscience."

In Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley made his position clear, saying certain crimes "should be handled" by the death penalty.

"I have met parents, that their child has died, and this person has been out of prison," Daley said on Wednesday. "I mean, how do they live with that?"

Daley said that instead of scrapping the death penalty, Illinois should work to end "imperfections" in the law by increasing the use of DNA testing to make certain police arrest the right people.

The mayor said he was not trying to influence Quinn's decision. "It's up to him," Daley said.

As Quinn pondered, a capital murder case in DuPage County moved forward, while the judge on a potential death penalty case in Lake County agreed to a delay at the defense attorney's request.

Jury selection has started in the retrial of Laurence Lovejoy, an Aurora man who was sentenced to death in 2007 for murdering his stepdaughter. The Illinois Supreme Court in 2009 ordered a new trial in the case, stating that prosecutors and the judge erred in handling DNA evidence.

How the trial proceeds given the death penalty situation is largely up to DuPage County Judge Kathryn Creswell, said Andrea Lyon, a law professor at DePaul University College of Law and director of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases.

If Quinn signs the death penalty ban by the time part or all of the jury has been selected, the judge could declare a mistrial and start over with a new jury selection, Lyon said. Creswell could also allow the trial to continue, let the jury determine issue a verdict and then handle sentencing herself if Lovejoy is found guilty.

That approach could give Lovejoy a strong argument on appeal, as research shows that juries seated in death penalty cases tend to be pro-law enforcement, respond negatively to minorities and are hostile to testimony on mental health issues, she said.

In Lake County, uncertainty over capital punishment contributed to a delay in the trial of Daniel Baker, a Deerfield man accused of beating his girlfriend's mother to death.

Prosecutors on Wednesday were to receive Baker's medical records and school reports to determine whether to seek the death penalty.

Baker's attorney, Ed Genson, asked Lake County Judge Fred Foreman for another month, both to give attorneys more time to study the documents and to see what happens with the death penalty legislation.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Fix said prosecutors still have to read the legislation "and see what it is going to be before we can assess it."

Source: Chicago Tribune, January 12, 2011