From Thursday – and this has been all over the net – just didn’t get a chance to post anything about it.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―Jim Ryan, a Republican candidate for governor and former DuPage County State’s Attorney, has apologized for his role in the wrongful prosecution of two men in the 1983 murder of Jeanine Nicarico.
Ryan repeatedly prosecuted Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, sending them to Death Row for the rape and murder of the 10-year-old girl from Naperville. Just eight months after their first conviction, evidence mounted that Brian Dugan, in custody for two other slayings, was the real killer when he offered to confess in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. But prosecutors didn’t believe him.
Ultimately, Cruz was acquitted, largely on DNA evidence that exonerated him, and prosecutors dropped all charges against Hernandez. Dugan pleaded guilty in the Nicarico case earlier this year and was sentenced to death on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Ryan apologized for his role in prosecuting Cruz and Hernandez.
Statement from Jim Ryan-
Statement from Jim Ryan from downstate Illinois
Reaction to Dugan verdict/moratorium/death penalty
Nov. 12, 2009On Wednesday, Brian Dugan was sentenced to death for the murder of Jeanine Nicarico. In the case of Brian Dugan, the criminal justice system worked. In previous prosecutions, it did not. I said in interviews in 2002 that I had less confidence in the accuracy of the criminal justice system than I did earlier in my career. I continue to believe that.
In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, prosecutors, detectives and police officers acted in good faith and still came up with the wrong result. In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, the system and I failed to achieve a just outcome. And for that I am sorry.
Although I continue to believe that the state has the right to take a life under limited circumstances to protect society, I also believe we must do more to ensure the accuracy of the system of capital punishment and limit its application to the “worst of the worst,” such as Brian Dugan.
I believe we must do more to ensure the accuracy of the criminal justice system. Good intentions are not enough when human life is at stake.
If I am elected governor, I will not lift the moratorium on capital punishment until we have created a more limited and accurate system of capital punishment. While Illinois has made significant progress, other reforms have been left on the table, such as a reduction in the number of eligibility factors that trigger the death penalty.
As Governor, I will work with prosecutors, law enforcement officials, judges and those opposed to the death penalty to draft a more narrow and accurate system of capital punishment. Once these reforms have been enacted by the General Assembly, I will lift the moratorium on capital punishment.
If I’m elected Governor, with a team of advisors, I will carefully review every conviction on a case-by-case basis should any death penalty cases reach my desk.
For nearly a decade in Illinois, capital punishment has been in partial limbo. As we move forward, in order to provide guidance to all in the criminal justice system and the next Governor and General Assembly, I favor allowing the people of Illinois to weigh in on this important issue. I support a statewide advisory referendum on whether citizens continue to support capital punishment or favor sentences of natural life without parole.
If we are to retain capital punishment as a sentencing alternative, then we owe it to the citizens of Illinois and former defendants in death penalty cases who have been exonerated to learn from our mistakes, including my own, to ensure the criminal justice system is as accurate and fair as humanly possible.
I think we need to address first things first. We need to confront those who support the murders of innocent children in the womb and who would rather the taxpayers fund keeping murderers of innocents alive before we even address the death penalty. The way the courts are headed, they’ll do it on the social justice template which has nothing to do with the rule of law.
