* From the governor’s amendatory veto of HB1468…
A person commits death penalty murder when at the time of the commission of the offense he or she has attained the age of 18 or more and he or she purposely causes the death of another human being without lawful justification if:
(1) at the time of the offense, the person caused the death of 2 or more other human beings without lawful justification; or
(2) the victim was a peace officer, as defined by Section 2-13 of this Code, killed in the course of performing his or her official duties, either to prevent the performance of the officer’s duties or in retaliation for the performance of the officer’s duties, and the person knew that the victim was a peace officer.
* Gov. Rauner today…
Um, killing firefighters was not in the governor’s AV.
* This is exactly the problem I’ve pointed out here before. Once you start a limited reimposition of the death penalty, people are gonna scream about why you didn’t add this or that category, and then it’s always expanded time and time again…
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.
That tweet by the governor is the best proof yet that his AV is just “show-biz.”
- Henry Francis - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:35 am:
Police officers, firefighters, and DCFS caseworkers.
- siriusly - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:36 am:
Congratulations to the Governor he has found his “immigration” wedge issue in an attempt to build a base.
- DuPage Saint - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:38 am:
And then pretty soon the murder of a child
- Perrid - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:45 am:
And then they add the murders of children, then those who kill little old ladies, then clergy, and on and on and on. People can be bloodthirsty.
- Undiscovered country - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:45 am:
Also expanded to cover those guilty by accountability, not just the murderer in fact.
- PJ - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:49 am:
I’d love for someone like Guzzardi to counter that that’s fine, so long as we also give the death penalty to police officers convicted of wrongful killings of unarmed civilians. Talk about a showbiz move.
- 360 Degree TurnAround - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:49 am:
What about kittens?
- Michelle Flaherty - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:56 am:
Just saw Kirk Dillard in the Capitol in case anyone wants to apologize.
- Linus - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:56 am:
Ever-shifting sands.
Rauner = Trump = Rauner = Trump = etc
- wordslinger - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:58 am:
Wherever you land on the death penalty, I think most people would agree that it’s a profoundly serious issue, not to be trifled with, only to be addressed with a commitment to deep, sober thought.
It’s literally a life or death issue.
This sad little dilettante we have now, desperate for attention, seeks ephemeral, cheap-hustler political gain by tinkering with the machinery of death.
He doesn’t have the guts or brains to do it like a serious person, putting himself out there and debating the idea of the state deciding on life or death.
He files an amendatory veto. He tweets.
Rauner is such a shameful embarrassment.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 11:58 am:
Rauner’s in desperation mode over the base’s anger and almost losing to Ives. This is just pandering and trying to get into social conservatives’ good graces.
This is bad too and in line with the NFL pandering to conservatives by forcing players to stand for the anthem or face a consequence. It’s bad because it disregards that players kneel to protest police brutality and that cops can get away with killing black people. Rauner’s trying to get in on this.
- Anonymous - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 12:26 pm:
A guy willing to have people killed to retain his job is not someone that should have the job.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 12:33 pm:
==I’d love for someone like Guzzardi to counter that that’s fine, so long as we also give the death penalty to police officers convicted of wrongful killings of unarmed civilians.==
Seconded, agree completely. The sad little dilettante (sorry sling, it’s too good not to use) would be at his usual complete loss of words were this put on the table.
- Amalia - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 12:40 pm:
Rauner is not consistent, and goofy, but two words why I agree with some return of the death penalty. Andrew Urdiales. thankfully, California is prosecuting now.
- Moe Berg - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 12:44 pm:
wordslinger, as is usually the case, nails it
To the degree Rauner truly cares about anything, it’s destroying unions and seeing that those who have much get even more. For that, we must endure his non-stop phony about everything else.
He’s really an empty shell of a man.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 12:48 pm:
==and in line with the NFL pandering to conservatives by forcing players to stand for the anthem or face a consequence.==
This is another thing that really grinds my gears. Conservatives see no problem with the nuts stockpiling arms and thousands of rounds of ammunition because they may need to someday overthrow our “tyrannical government”. But those very same conservatives get pearl-clutchingly offended if NFL players (or everyday citizens for that matter) peacefully protest what they view as tyrannical actions currently being undertaken by that very same government. I’d think they would literally choke to death on that much hypocrisy, but it doesn’t seem to phase them.
Maybe if African Americans started arming themselves to the teeth and operating conspiracy-theory websites instead of taking a knee before a footbaw game, conservatives might be more welcoming of their concerns.
- a drop in - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 12:51 pm:
Amalia, you can always find someone who shouldn’t be allowed to live. That doesn’t mean the people, represented by the state, should murder them.
- DuPage - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 12:53 pm:
I read a news article a couple years ago that made me see red, and think the crime “almost” deserved the death penalty. Some guy in Chicago was mad at his ex-girlfriend and stabbed her in both eyes, deliberately, permanently blinding her. I don’t know what the maximum sentence for that would be, but he certainly deserved maximum time without parole.
- Stats Malone - Monday, May 28, 18 @ 8:22 pm:
There are currently 65 legislators who voted on abolition of the death penalty in the 96th General Assembly.
Of the 37 in the House, 23 voted to abolish the death penalty, 13 opposed, one didn’t vote. Thirty of these voted in favor of HB1468 prior to Rauner’s AV, eight who opposed abolition.
Of the 28 in the Senate, 17 voted to abolish the death penalty, 10 opposed, one didn’t vote. Twenty of these voted in favor of HB1468 prior to Rauner’s AV, three who opposed abolition.
HB1468 passed 79 to 37 in the House, 43 to 15 in the Senate, so there wasn’t any need to persuade those favoring the death penalty to get on board.