Fixing
death penalty system called 'misuse of public funds'
A member of Gov. Ryan's commission on capital punishment said
spending the millions of dollars needed to change the state's death penalty
system would be a ''misuse of public funds.'' Thomas Sullivan, a former U.S.
attorney and co-chairman of the commission, said Monday that the state would
be better served spending that money in areas such as education and rehabilitation.
He noted that the commission recommended 85 changes to the state's capital punishment
system, and he said that to reduce the risk of executing an innocent person
as much as possible, ''you would have to adopt all of them.'' Sullivan made
his comments at the University of Chicago after a discussion of the commission's
recommendations with a panel that included fellow co-chairman Frank McGarr,
a retired federal judge. McGarr said although it would be impossible to guarantee
that innocent people would not be executed, he believes the death penalty system
in Illinois can be fixed. (Chicago Sun-Times, May 7, 2002)
