Illinois Governor Quinn may sign death penalty ban

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Illinois Governor Pat Quinn gestures at a news conference introducing the 2010 Ford Taurus at the Ford assembly plant in Chicago, Illinois August 4, 2009. REUTERS/Frank Polich

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn gestures at a news conference introducing the 2010 Ford Taurus at the Ford assembly plant in Chicago, Illinois August 4, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Frank Polich

CHICAGO | Wed Mar 9, 2011 10:19am EST

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Governor Pat Quinn will hold a noon press conference on Wednesday, amid speculation that he will sign a law banning the death penalty in Illinois.

The Illinois legislature passed a ban on the death penalty in early January, and Quinn, a Democrat, has been hearing arguments from both sides of the issues to make a decision on whether to sign the bill.

Illinois has not executed anyone for more than a decade after former Republican Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in January 2000 following a series of revelations that people had been sent to Death Row who were later found to be innocent.

State Sen. Kwame Raoul, the measure's sponsor, said too many mistakes had been made in Illinois.

Grant Klinzman, a spokesman for Quinn, said Quinn will be announcing his decision on the death penalty at the press conference but would not comment further.

Illinois would be the first state since 2009 to ban the death penalty.

(Writing by Mary Wisniewski, Editing by Greg McCune)
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actnow wrote:
Pat Quinn has already sentenced the Illinois economy to death with a 67% tax increases on workers and 48% tax increases on businesses (passed during a lame duck session). Despite this, Illinois still has a $7 billion deficit per year. Mr. Quinn proposes to keep borrowing money to finance this portion of the deficit rather than make any cuts to the generous defined pension and health care benefits of state employees. Look into the crystal ball and you will see the future of the U.S. as a whole. We will wake up in the near future to hear that our federal taxes have gone through the roof because our government refused to do their jobs. Mr. Quinn’s motto should be “death to the tax payer and businesses”.

Mar 09, 2011 11:04am EST  --  Report as abuse
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