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CNN Live Saturday
Illinois Governor Issues Blanket Sentence Commutations to Death Row Inmates
Aired January 11, 2003 - 18:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The Illinois governor turned that state's prison system on its ear today, commuting the sentences of every inmate on death row. His decision means nearly all of the 157 inmates will face life without parole instead of execution.
Governor Ryan called the states death penalty system immoral and he said he would no longer, "tinker with the machinery of death".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GEORGE RYAN, (R) ILLINOIS: Because of the spectacular failure to reform the system, because we have seen justice delayed for countless death row inmates, with potentially meritorious claims, and because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, CNN's Chicago Bureau Chief Jeff Flock was on hand for Ryan's announcement.
Jeff, pretty major development today?
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Amazing, amazing development here. Death row as we know it in Illinois will be empty. You know that line, now, that Ryan used, "I will no longer tinker with the machinery of death", is from Justice Harry Blackman of the Supreme Court, writing his opinion on the end of the death penalty.
Ryan reaching back, looking back, into history and making history himself. Perhaps we have pictures of what this scene was like. It was a room, that we still stand in here at Northwestern University Law School, packed with people who don't like the death penalty. So, the governor got a lot of handshakes and cheers and applause.
There were other exonerated former death row inmates here, as well as two of the men -- I think two or three -- no, three. The three men who he pardoned yesterday who actually got out of prison yesterday. They were here as well.
Now, the other side of this, of course, is victims' families, members of law enforcement, prosecutors, very upset with what the governor has done. What can they do about it? Well, the sense is, not all that much.
Although, we have been talking to some family members who intend to go to the inauguration of the new governor on Monday and they say that when they get there they will lobby him to lift the ban on executions in Illinois, because they say, the death penalty is something that should be carried out in this state. We talked to the incoming governor just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ELECT: I support the governor's decision on the moratorium. I think he is right to review all of the cases on a case-by-case basis. I think that is a moral obligation. He's been right to do that.
But I disagree with his decision to provide blanket clemency. I think a blanket anything is usually wrong. There is no one-size fits all approach to this. We're talking about convicted murderers. And I just think that -- that is a mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: And finally to the very human story of those men who were freed from death row yesterday and are now in the first blush of their freedom. I sat down with a man who I had met several months ago. And inside Cook County jail, we sat down for an interview in his jail cell. He told me at that time he really didn't have a whole lot of hope that he would get a pardon. He was just hoping to get his sentence commuted. But in fact he is now free. His name is Leroy Orange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEROY ORANGE, PARDONED INMATE: It was a traumatic feeling. A sigh of relief. A lot of pressure that was lifted from me, that I didn't realize so much pressure was on me.
FLOCK: Did you ever think that you'd get there?
ORANGE: I was hopeful that I'd get there, but I never entertained the thought of getting there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: A quiet dignified man, Leroy Orange. But I should point out that prosecutors in that case say they think he's guilty. That he should never be out on the street. But the man's whose opinion counts, Governor George Ryan, declared today, that he -- or those three -- or he declared this yesterday, that he and those three others will be out on the street.
Now, these others that, the commutations, this doesn't turn anybody else loose. It simply takes them off death row and into the general population, which actually, some of the death row inmates we talked to really didn't want a commutation. They felt that their cases would get more attention in their battle for innocence if they were still on death row. So, this is not really something that everybody wanted -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jeff, for a lot of people who are coming into the story, just today, this is probably the first they've heard about it. Give us a sense of the trajectory of Governor Ryan's thought process on this? I mean, how long has this been in development. Where did he used to stand on this issue? And how did he come to where he stands now?
FLOCK: I take you back to 1977, when he was a member of the state legislature, he voted to re-institute the death penalty in Illinois. And it was successful. Became governor, Republican, supportive of President Bush, strong conservative Republican.
But he bean to see flaws in the system. What really crystallized it for him was a man who was, I think, 72 hours away from execution, when on death row, when another man came forward and confessed to the crime. He said, how do we get there? I turned out 13 men were freed in a similar fashion from death row, while the state was busy executing another dozen. He said, 50/50 is not a good enough percentage to bet on with this death penalty. And that's when he implemented the moratorium.
COOPER: All right, Jeff Flock. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Death Row Inmates>
Aired January 11, 2003 - 18:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The Illinois governor turned that state's prison system on its ear today, commuting the sentences of every inmate on death row. His decision means nearly all of the 157 inmates will face life without parole instead of execution.
Governor Ryan called the states death penalty system immoral and he said he would no longer, "tinker with the machinery of death".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GEORGE RYAN, (R) ILLINOIS: Because of the spectacular failure to reform the system, because we have seen justice delayed for countless death row inmates, with potentially meritorious claims, and because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, CNN's Chicago Bureau Chief Jeff Flock was on hand for Ryan's announcement.
Jeff, pretty major development today?
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Amazing, amazing development here. Death row as we know it in Illinois will be empty. You know that line, now, that Ryan used, "I will no longer tinker with the machinery of death", is from Justice Harry Blackman of the Supreme Court, writing his opinion on the end of the death penalty.
Ryan reaching back, looking back, into history and making history himself. Perhaps we have pictures of what this scene was like. It was a room, that we still stand in here at Northwestern University Law School, packed with people who don't like the death penalty. So, the governor got a lot of handshakes and cheers and applause.
There were other exonerated former death row inmates here, as well as two of the men -- I think two or three -- no, three. The three men who he pardoned yesterday who actually got out of prison yesterday. They were here as well.
Now, the other side of this, of course, is victims' families, members of law enforcement, prosecutors, very upset with what the governor has done. What can they do about it? Well, the sense is, not all that much.
Although, we have been talking to some family members who intend to go to the inauguration of the new governor on Monday and they say that when they get there they will lobby him to lift the ban on executions in Illinois, because they say, the death penalty is something that should be carried out in this state. We talked to the incoming governor just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ELECT: I support the governor's decision on the moratorium. I think he is right to review all of the cases on a case-by-case basis. I think that is a moral obligation. He's been right to do that.
But I disagree with his decision to provide blanket clemency. I think a blanket anything is usually wrong. There is no one-size fits all approach to this. We're talking about convicted murderers. And I just think that -- that is a mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: And finally to the very human story of those men who were freed from death row yesterday and are now in the first blush of their freedom. I sat down with a man who I had met several months ago. And inside Cook County jail, we sat down for an interview in his jail cell. He told me at that time he really didn't have a whole lot of hope that he would get a pardon. He was just hoping to get his sentence commuted. But in fact he is now free. His name is Leroy Orange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEROY ORANGE, PARDONED INMATE: It was a traumatic feeling. A sigh of relief. A lot of pressure that was lifted from me, that I didn't realize so much pressure was on me.
FLOCK: Did you ever think that you'd get there?
ORANGE: I was hopeful that I'd get there, but I never entertained the thought of getting there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLOCK: A quiet dignified man, Leroy Orange. But I should point out that prosecutors in that case say they think he's guilty. That he should never be out on the street. But the man's whose opinion counts, Governor George Ryan, declared today, that he -- or those three -- or he declared this yesterday, that he and those three others will be out on the street.
Now, these others that, the commutations, this doesn't turn anybody else loose. It simply takes them off death row and into the general population, which actually, some of the death row inmates we talked to really didn't want a commutation. They felt that their cases would get more attention in their battle for innocence if they were still on death row. So, this is not really something that everybody wanted -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jeff, for a lot of people who are coming into the story, just today, this is probably the first they've heard about it. Give us a sense of the trajectory of Governor Ryan's thought process on this? I mean, how long has this been in development. Where did he used to stand on this issue? And how did he come to where he stands now?
FLOCK: I take you back to 1977, when he was a member of the state legislature, he voted to re-institute the death penalty in Illinois. And it was successful. Became governor, Republican, supportive of President Bush, strong conservative Republican.
But he bean to see flaws in the system. What really crystallized it for him was a man who was, I think, 72 hours away from execution, when on death row, when another man came forward and confessed to the crime. He said, how do we get there? I turned out 13 men were freed in a similar fashion from death row, while the state was busy executing another dozen. He said, 50/50 is not a good enough percentage to bet on with this death penalty. And that's when he implemented the moratorium.
COOPER: All right, Jeff Flock. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Death Row Inmates>
