George Ryan, 2003 News

Republican governor of Illinois, commuted the sentences of 167 inmates on death row, calling capital punishment fundamentally flawed. He announced the move in January, two days before leaving office. “Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error—error in determining guilty, and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die,” he said. In 2000, Ryan had imposed a moratorium on executions.


2003 People in the News