The Day After: Death Penalty Opponents, Advocates Weigh in on Repeal
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 10, 2011 3:00PM
The media has had time to analyze Gov. Quinn's signing of the death penalty repeal into law yesterday. Both the Tribune and the Sun-Times gave Quinn his propers for doing what they said was the right thing.The Tribune also writes that, despite Quinn's contention that signing the repeal was the "moral" thing to do, it was the question of accuracy that led to the ban.
Local states attorneys condemned Quinn's decision, holding fast to the claim that the most violent criminals will now feel free to act with impunity, despite little proof of capital punishment as a deterrent to such actions. Other prosecutors said repealing the death penalty takes away a bargaining tool they can dangle in plea bargain agreements.
Families of victims also weren't pleased with the signing. Thomas Nicarico, whose daughter Jeanine's 1983 murder and the subsequent wrongful prosecution of three men for it stood as a reason for death penalty opponents to fight for the ban, wasn't pleased with Quinn's decision.
“They’re celebrating because even though they took lives, the governor gave them their lives back,” said Nicarico. “[Brian Dugan, who eventually was convicted of Jeanine Nicarico's murder] has killed three girls. He has admitted it. DNA has proven it. How much more certain do you have to be?”
Tyrone Newburn, whose ex-wife Rose Newburn was murdered by Dion Banks in a 2001 carjacking, supported the ban. His sons, however, don't.
The Sun-Times looked back at the case of Randy Steidl, who was freed from Death Row in 2004 whose calm demeanor and eloquence made him a powerful advocate for banning capital punishment.
The Springfield Journal-Register published a gallery of the fifteen men on Death Row whose sentences were commuted by Quinn yesterday.
Former Gov. George Ryan, who enacted the moratorium on the death penalty 11 years ago, applauded Quinn's decision, telling Michael Sneed, "It was a long time coming."
Finally, the Sun-Times profiles Ronald Mikos, a Chicago man who's still on federal Death Row in Terre Haute, IN, that they published under the technically correct, but still slightly deceptive headline "Chicago Man Still on Death Row Despite Quinn's Moves,"