Ryan- Blanket clemency option 'pretty much ruled out'

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Gov. George Ryan, who previously suggested he might grant clemency to everyone on death row, said Tuesday he has "pretty much ruled out" that option.

Ryan has said for months that blanket commutations were an option he would consider as he tries to guard against innocent people being put to death. But the prospect of clearly guilty killers avoiding the death penalty angered many prosecutors and families of victims.

As Ryan spoke, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board was in its second week of clemency hearings for nearly every inmate on death row.

Emotional testimony by families has led to criticism of the hearings, renewed horror over the crimes and mounting protest against the idea of a blanket clemency for everyone on death row.

"I would guess that at this point I have pretty much ruled out blanket commutations," the Republican governor said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a state office building.

"That doesn't mean I won't do it, but I've pretty much decided that it's not an option I'm going to exercise," Ryan said.

After Ryan said he might commute the death sentences of every inmate on death row, 142 of the 160 inmates, or their lawyers, filed clemency petitions.

Hearings under fire

Critics accuse Ryan of needlessly dredging up painful memories for victims' families. Some have called for him to cancel the hearings.

Ryan rejected that argument Tuesday. He said the inmates' petitions could have been handled on paper, without public hearings, but prosecutors wanted to testify and present sympathetic witnesses.

"Instead of pointing the finger at me to call off the hearings, knowing full well that I can't, they ought to ask for a waiver on the hearings," Ryan said

Prosecutors insisted they had no real choice once Ryan opened the door to clemency.

"It's this simple. The state's attorneys of Illinois did not trust the governor to be the 13th juror on a case he never heard," said Kevin Lyons, Peoria County state's attorney.

Tuesday in Chicago, the review board heard about John Hester, who spent five years beating and torturing his mute, severely retarded and physically disabled step-daughter.

She "died by inches, organ by organ, by beatings and malnutrition," Alison Perona, an assistant Cook County state's attorney, said. "She couldn't fight back. She couldn't defend herself. She could not scream out and cry for help."

Perona said Hester beat Orachanee Anderson daily with his hands, belt and electric cords, duct-taped her mouth and taped her to the toilet. The beatings gave her cauliflower ears and blinded her.

She died in 1998 at age 22, weighing 85 pounds.

Amy Thompson, a public defender, argued Hester deserves clemency because he is retarded and was physically abused as a child, both assertions made for many convicts in the hearings.