Press Release

FROM CITIZENS UNITED FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY (CUADP)

For Immediate Release: 10 January 2003

CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz
800-973-6548
abe@cuadp.org

ILLINOIS GOV. RYAN PARDONS FOUR DEATH ROW PRISONERS; SECOND SPEECH SET FOR SATURDAY

Gov. George H. Ryan of Illinois today announced he is granting pardons to four men whose confessions were coerced after being tortured by Chicago police officers. The announcement comes on the eve of a second speech, scheduled for 1 p.m. central time Saturday, in which the governor is expected to announce whether he is commuting some, most, or all, of Illinois' death sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ryan is taking these actions because his confidence in the criminal justice system has been undermined by too many mistakes, and his recommendations for reform of that system have been rejected by the Illinois legislature.

"CUADP applauds Governor Ryan for his decision," said Abe Bonowitz, Director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "Other Governors should take a lesson from Governor Ryan, who is a Republican and who still considers himself a supporter of the death penalty. Governor Ryan took personal responsibility to understand the true nature of a system he supported his entire political life. Once he understood that system, he could no longer deny that the death penalty system is fatally flawed."

Ryan said he is granting pardons to Leroy Orange, Aaron Patterson, Madison Hobley and Stanley Howard. The four inmates have spent a combined six decades in prison for crimes they did not commit. Each man is African American. During the era in which the four were tortured, tried and convicted, Chicago police under the command of former Lieutenant Jon Burge routinely used such torture methods as electric shock, suffocation hoods, burnings, beatings and Russian roulette. Burge was fired for his misdeeds and now lives in Florida.

"I am very excited for the men being released today, as well as their families." said Bonowitz. "I have been corresponding with Aaron Patterson for years, and I know his mother and many others who have been fighting for years for the truth to come out in his case. Sadly, these men have had a portion of their lives stolen from them, and worse, the real killers in those cases were left free, possibly to kill again."

Since 1972, more than 100 people sentenced to death have been exonerated and released from death rows across the U.S. Illinois has executed 12 people and had 13 people set free from death row due to actual innocence. In Florida, which leads the nation in death row exonerations with 24 (as of 3pm, 1/10/03), two men (William Kelley and Rudolph Holton, in unrelated cases), have had their convictions overturned and await a decision by the state to either retry them or let them go. Both are expected to be freed as there is no longer enough credible evidence upon which to retry them.

"Many Americans are unaware of the number of innocent people who are convicted and sentenced to prison," Bonowitz said. "The fact that innocent people aren't just being sent to prison, but indeed are being sent to death row to await execution should make every voter and every legislator sit up and take notice."

PLEASE NOTE: A pardon is different than a commutation. Governor Ryan granted only a few pardons -- those men will walk free. The Governor plans to announce commutations of death sentences to life without the possibility of parole to some, or perhaps all, Illinois death row prisoners on Saturday.

SENT BY:
 
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director, CUADP

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