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CNN SATURDAY
Governor Ryan Issues Blanket Commutation to Death Row Inmates
Aired January 11, 2003 - 17:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, on to Illinois, a day of -- after pardoning four death row inmates, Illinois Governor George Ryan had more stunning news today. Ryan had issued a blanket commutation covering all remaining 157 people on death row in the state.
CNN Chicago Bureau Chief Jeff Flock joins us now with more -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Indeed, Fredricka, history made here today as George Ryan, the outgoing governor of Illinois, Republican, death penalty supporter when he came to office, today essentially emptied death row.
Yesterday, as you report, those four pardons which took people actually out of prison and off death row. Today, commutations, not sure on the exact number, I just talked to him about it, upwards of 150 or more commutations of everyone, the sentences of everyone on death row.
You see perhaps the scene here inside this hall. It's curiously enough the Lincoln Hall here at Northwestern University, the governor explaining in his speech his plans and why he did what he did. I sat down with him just a few moments ago in a quiet room to try to get a sense from where he was coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK (voice-over): What was the thing that finally crystallized it for you that made you take such dramatic action?
GOV. GEORGE RYAN (R), ILLINOIS: Well, I can't say there was really one thing that finally crystallized. You know we've been working on this for some time, many, many months, years as a matter of fact. It was an accumulated kind of a decision but I suppose what forced my hand is that I'm not going to be governor after Monday at noon, and if I was going to make a decision I had to do it and I had to do it pretty quick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: And, Fredricka, one other headline from our interview. The governor said, essentially he apologized to those victims' families members. He said I think I may have misled them. You know he was back and forth on this issue and he indicated that, you know, his own mind changed about it and he thought perhaps he misled them and he said he was sorry for that but he really feels he did the right thing. I asked him finally, are you at peace? He said and looked as though he was -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, Jeff, he made it very clear even during his speech earlier today that he realizes this is a decision that strikes an emotional chord on both sides.
FLOCK: That's right.
WHITFIELD: That not everyone will be happy with his decision but he felt like given that the justice system has failed so many people, that's how he classified it, that he really felt like he had to do something.
FLOCK: Not only will not everybody like it, most people won't like it. And, I said to him, for all the adulation that you got in that room and all the cheers and all the handshakes and hugs, there's as much venom or more outside this room. He knows that.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff Flock thank you very much.
Well, for a legal and historical analysis of Governor George Ryan's decision, let's turn now to former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey. He joins us now from Miami, good to see you Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Good to see you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, well controversial or not the governor says this is a decision that he can sleep with. This is an unprecedented decision, isn't it?
COFFEY: It's extraordinary. Nothing like this has happened in modern times and as you've been talking about there's going to be an explosion of passion from both sides, jubilation among foes of the death penalty, but for the families in particular of the victims this is a very dark day.
WHITFIELD: And the governor felt like this was an opportunity for him to make a very serious statement. These are his words spoken earlier today. He says with 12 states abolishing the death penalty, should geography determine who gets death? So, might his decision, his blanket commutation be an impetus for other states to perhaps follow his lead?
COFFEY: Well, I think it's going to spark to a very heavy level the dialogue and debate over the death penalty. What I don't think you'll see are other governors on Monday announcing a moratorium or blanket commutations, to the contrary. I think from the public and from the police and prosecution communities from the victims' rights communities there's going to be anger and a sense of betrayal.
The important thing, though, is that this process that's taken place in Illinois has exposed some real questions. It is clearly a system that needs examination. Whether you're frustrated from the victim standpoint that it takes 12 years to get someone executed, or from the other side the concern about wrongly convicted people facing the death penalty, clearly some kind of remedial measures are needed.
WHITFIELD: The governor said he made this decision based on a number of things. He did his own research. He waited for the conclusion of some of that research. He also said and underscores what other research groups have maintained for years now, the racial disparities. He says that this is the result of bad cops, bad judges, bad prosecutors, bad lawyering.
And, he says, the United States is supposed to help lead by example and it is far behind when looking at other nations, progressive nations such as, you know, France he called as an example who do not have the death penalty, yet the U.S. very readily does.
COFFEY: All those are important parts of the debate, but what a lot of the focus is now is the increasing awareness of the risk that an innocent person could be executed perhaps inevitably. Some innocent people have been executed.
We're seeing a system that is at a level that people are fairly saying is it good enough to know that 98 percent of the time the people being executed are guilty? The question is that's being raised, I think, by the announcement today, don't we need to have a greater degree of certainty or are the best efforts as close good enough?
WHITFIELD: Does this also present another problem that those who already lack some confidence in the justice system in the United States feel like they have yet another piece of evidence in which to substantiate their feelings?
COFFEY: There's going to be both sides of that. Certainly, people who question the reliability and the certainty of all of the cases that have put people on death row have a concern. From the standpoint of victims, they are going to feel let down by the justice system because they believed in a system that said that someone who took away a loved one could face the same fate.
And now, with the stroke of a governor's pen, all 150-something plus people who were condemned to death will now live. So, there's going to be both strong senses on both sides that there are concerns about faith in the justice system tonight.
WHITFIELD: All right, this is a decision clearly not everybody is going to be happy with. Kendall Coffey thanks very much for joining us from Miami, good to see you.
COFFEY: Thank you, Fredricka.
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