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Potential jurors' opinion on death penalty key in Ryan trial
In his last act as governor nearly two years ago, George Ryan emptied Illinois' death row, reducing the execution sentences of 167 convicted murderers to prison terms. Hardwood desks rattled as cheers echoed through the lecture hall at the Northwestern University School of Law, where a statesmanlike Ryan invoked the erudite words of late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun: "I no longer shall tinker with the instrument of death." To the audience of anti-death penalty activists, advocates for the wrongly accused and many wrongly accused men themselves, Ryan was nothing less than an international human rights hero. And he retains that status today. But to many prosecutors, police and families of the murdered, he was a politician-turned-bleeding-heart-weasel trying to secure a legacy other than that of a corrupt official. Innocence wasn't an issue for most cases. Critics said Ryan forced families to relive horrendous crimes and then pulled the rug out from under just sentences. … Research shows sentiments over capital punishment can be significant in any criminal trial, according to professor Stephan Landsman of the DePaul University College of Law. "There are some things that are powerfully predictive, and one of those is your reaction to the death penalty," he said. "For the past 30 to 40 years, prosecutors have been allowed to disqualify people who won't execute a person. New research suggests that you may be eliminating all but those most likely to convict."
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