Death penalty hearing roundup
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The governor’s amendatory veto was basically just for show and yesterday’s House hearing was still more Hollywood. But let’s take a quick look…
Many were surprised by the governor’s suggestions – especially when the governor’s own public safety working group has been meeting regularly to discuss different solutions. Some members say they wonder why the governor did not discuss the capital punishment plan with them first.
State Rep. Kathleen Willis, an Addison Democrat, is part of the group and called Rauner’s death penalty suggestion a “poison pill”. She asked David Risley, director of criminal justice and public safety policy for the Governor’s Office if Rauner intended to run the show himself after bypassing the group. “So in other words, he puts no value behind the public safety working group, that we have no input on the things that he wants to work on?”
Risley said the governor didn’t want to interfere with the working group’s own ideas. “What he wanted to do was lay these things on the table, instead of sitting back and being like a punching bag for critics. He wanted to lay on the table what he was for, affirmatively, instead of just playing defense.”
* SJ-R…
Lawmakers pushed Risley to be more specific in the definition of “beyond all doubt” and to provide examples of where that standard would be met. He said those like Saddam Hussein, Timothy McVeigh or John Wayne Gacy would meet such a bar.
* Illinois News Network…
At the hearing, Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz said they support the death penalty for cop killers and mass murderers as a way to deter criminals from targeting police officers or committing mass murder.
“I believe that anything that we can do to help stop that, whether it’s this bill or some other bills, it’s something that we should work on and strive for,” Schmitz said.
State Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, said everyone should support law enforcement, but she has a question of prioritizing one life over another.
“I certainly do say, ‘yes we should have your back’,” Willis said. “But what makes your life more valuable than my husband’s life, or my daughter’s life, or my mother’s life?”
So, our state police director believes the death penalty is a deterrent. Even House GOP Leader Jim Durkin doesn’t go that far.
And as I’ve pointed out before, when you start applying the death penalty to one or two crimes, people will always wonder why any number of other crimes weren’t also included. Then-Sen. Kirk Dillard ran into those same problems when he tried a limited reinstatement of the death penalty.
* AP…
Rob Warden, who has spent years exposing wrongful convictions as a journalist and academic, noted that while Rauner might call his idea on capital punishment “limited,” it’s easy for lawmakers to expand.
When Illinois restored capital punishment in 1977, there were six “aggravating factors,” or legal determinations that, if met, could warrant a death sentence, Warden said. When it was abolished, there were 20.
- Served - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 1:50 pm:
We are in an era where even the most strident death penalty states struggle to get the drug cocktail needed for lethal injection, resulting in delays, and heinous botched executions from what are essentially black market drugs.
I know this is not a serious or reason-based proposition from the Governor, but that problem alone is enough motivation to avoid bringing back the death penalty.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 2:04 pm:
–* The governor’s amendatory veto was basically just for show…–
Heckuva a thing to play cynical political games with, the death penalty.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 2:36 pm:
Democrats in Illinois spend three years bashing Rauner for not using the constitutionally available tool call the Amendatory Veto. Finally, Rauner uses said tool.
I salute Rauner for bringing this issue front and center. I also salute Speaker Madigan for allowing an open forum and debate on these issues.
Go watch HBO’s Documentary “My Dangerous Son” that is now currently running. Portrays mental illness and our society’s indifference to treatment in a way that is hard to stomach.
Then think of the police commander, the type of of cop everyone claims they want to protect them, and his murderer, who armed himself and wore body armor, not to take his doggy to the park for a stroll, and ask: Where was the deterrence there? The cute little stickers on all the buildings surrounding the crime scene indicating it was a gun free zone?
That police commander was trained and took an oath to concentrate on protecting you and me. His murderer had a different view of things. Big difference in my eyes.
Then I suggest the legislature get to work.
- anon - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 2:37 pm:
Has there been any recent polling of Illinois voters on the death penalty?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 2:41 pm:
===three years bashing Rauner for not using the constitutionally available tool call the Amendatory Veto===
Um, no. The criticism has centered around line-item and reduction vetoes on approp bills. Way different.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 2:44 pm:
===Rauner for not using the constitutionally available tool call the Amendatory Veto. Finally, Rauner uses said tool.===
Then Rauner also owns his refusal to fund higher education, and paying social services… and every state agency under his name as governor.
Department of Aging funding?
Rauner vetoed that…
I don’t look at it the way you do, - Louis G Atsaves -
Rauner owns all his vetoes, including this one…. you make sure to applaud them… accordingly.
- Arsenal - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 4:19 pm:
==Where was the deterrence there?==
I’m not really seeing any evidence that Legghette wouldn’t have pulled the trigger if we had the death penalty.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 5:02 pm:
==Where was the deterrence there? The cute little stickers on all the buildings surrounding the crime scene indicating it was a gun free zone?==
If someone is irrational, can’t figure out cause and effect, or if someone is suicidal, and doesn’t care about punishment, maybe even welcomes death, nothing will ever be a deterrence.
The cute stickers are to remind people who conceal carry, now that it is legal. They were never meant to be a deterrence.
Glad I could help.
- Anon - Tuesday, May 22, 18 @ 5:16 pm:
I would love to know what Schmitz’s answer to Willis was