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Death Penalty Debate

Aired January 10, 2003 - 13:15   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we want to talk some more about this and, for that, we turn to our legal analyst, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin. Jeffrey, let's talk about what's been happening in Illinois over a past number of years, and, you know, why the governor and the death penalty, is receiving so much debate.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This has really been an extraordinary drama in Illinois over the past four years. Governor Ryan, a conservative Republican, took office and very shortly after he took office, 13 people on death row were found to be innocent. And he said, whoa, enough, I'm declaring a moratorium. The death penalty, clearly, is not functioning. He told the legislature to reform the laws; they haven't reformed the laws. And Ryan has become kind of an evangelist on the subject of the death penalty. And now we see on the final weekend of his term, he may, in fact, commute the sentences of all 160 people on death row. It's really coming down to the wire, and as Jeff Flock said, we just don't know what he's going to do.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, an interesting twist here. This is a governor, he spent his entire term under investigation. People that worked under him indicted. Let's talk about the sort of dual life going on here.

TOOBIN: It's really been an incredible story. Before he was governor, George Ryan was secretary of state. The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago has been conducting an investigation of corruption in that office for virtually the whole term. Everybody knows there was a pretty good year for Republicans, but there was virtually a Democratic sweep in Illinois, because of disgust with Ryan and the governor's office. So he has, sort of -- he was forced not to run for re-election, he had a terrible term, yet, he has sort of come forward on the death penalty. So there is a great deal of debate on saint versus sinner in the governor's office, over these past four years.

PHILLIPS: And then you and I were talking earlier on about this sort of schizo attitude about the death penalty throughout America. What do you think has taken place here?

TOOBIN: This really is a strange moment because there has been a lot of support for these moratoriums because, you know, DNA evidence, in particular, has showed that there really have been quite a few mistakes, in terms of people sentenced to death incorrectly. Yet, at the same time that the moratoriums in Illinois and Maryland have been pretty popular, you have John Ashcroft, the attorney general, aggressively seeking the death penalty, in many cases, most famously, in the Maryland and Virginia sniper cases. That also is very popular. So you have, you know, strong support for death penalty in cases where you know people are guilty, but some real reservations about whether the system really works as it is now.

PHILLIPS: CNN's legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. Thanks, Jeffrey.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 10, 2003 - 13:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we want to talk some more about this and, for that, we turn to our legal analyst, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin. Jeffrey, let's talk about what's been happening in Illinois over a past number of years, and, you know, why the governor and the death penalty, is receiving so much debate.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This has really been an extraordinary drama in Illinois over the past four years. Governor Ryan, a conservative Republican, took office and very shortly after he took office, 13 people on death row were found to be innocent. And he said, whoa, enough, I'm declaring a moratorium. The death penalty, clearly, is not functioning. He told the legislature to reform the laws; they haven't reformed the laws. And Ryan has become kind of an evangelist on the subject of the death penalty. And now we see on the final weekend of his term, he may, in fact, commute the sentences of all 160 people on death row. It's really coming down to the wire, and as Jeff Flock said, we just don't know what he's going to do.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, an interesting twist here. This is a governor, he spent his entire term under investigation. People that worked under him indicted. Let's talk about the sort of dual life going on here.

TOOBIN: It's really been an incredible story. Before he was governor, George Ryan was secretary of state. The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago has been conducting an investigation of corruption in that office for virtually the whole term. Everybody knows there was a pretty good year for Republicans, but there was virtually a Democratic sweep in Illinois, because of disgust with Ryan and the governor's office. So he has, sort of -- he was forced not to run for re-election, he had a terrible term, yet, he has sort of come forward on the death penalty. So there is a great deal of debate on saint versus sinner in the governor's office, over these past four years.

PHILLIPS: And then you and I were talking earlier on about this sort of schizo attitude about the death penalty throughout America. What do you think has taken place here?

TOOBIN: This really is a strange moment because there has been a lot of support for these moratoriums because, you know, DNA evidence, in particular, has showed that there really have been quite a few mistakes, in terms of people sentenced to death incorrectly. Yet, at the same time that the moratoriums in Illinois and Maryland have been pretty popular, you have John Ashcroft, the attorney general, aggressively seeking the death penalty, in many cases, most famously, in the Maryland and Virginia sniper cases. That also is very popular. So you have, you know, strong support for death penalty in cases where you know people are guilty, but some real reservations about whether the system really works as it is now.

PHILLIPS: CNN's legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. Thanks, Jeffrey.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com