Quinn to Sign Death Penalty Abolition Legislation
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 9, 2011 3:00PM
Gov. Quinn has been on a bill-signing tear lately. Earlier this week, Quinn signed legislation to improve public transportation in the Southeast suburbs and major redistricting reforms that protect the rights of racial and language minority communities. Quinn's office confirmed that a press conference has been scheduled late this morning in Springfield where he's expected to finally sign into law the legislation passed by the recent lame duck session of the General Assembly repealing the death penalty.
Maywood State Rep. Karen Yarbrough said a Quinn legislative aide confirmed the news to her yesterday, telling the Sun-Times, "For Illinois, I think we’ll be on the right side of history." Quinn has been listening to arguments from death penalty proponents and opponents lately, with the opponents (if letters to Quinn are used as a gauge) far outweighing the advocates. Quinn's options regarding the bill are either to sign it into law, veto it (in which case the General Assembly would have to start from scratch to get the legislation passed again, a harder feat to accomplish in this current legislature) or not sign it, in which it automatically becomes law on March 18.
If Quinn does sign the bill into law, it's unknown what would happen to the sentences of the 15 men currently on Death Row, as their sentences are not affected by the legislation. Quinn could either commute their sentences, keep the moratorium enacted by former Gov. George Ryan in place, or keep their sentences in place.