CHICAGO (AP) — Death row in Illinois is dead.
On Friday, a ban that Gov. Pat Quinn signed into
law in March took effect. It's a quiet last chapter to the story of capital
punishment in Illinois, which captured the attention of the world in 2000 when
then-Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium. Ryan cleared death row entirely
three years later.
After Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 death row
inmates to life, prosecutors continued to seek the death penalty as they waited
to see whether the moratorium imposed by Ryan would be lifted. Quinn has
already commuted the sentences of the 15 men on death row to life in prison
without parole.
Illinois has executed 12 men since 1977 when the
death penalty was reinstated, the last one in 1999.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
