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Blagojevich zaps money for death-penalty evaluation

Posted September 13, 2007 11:00 pm

Mike Ramsey

Gov. Rod Blagojevich previously emphasized the importance of studying new reforms in the state's capital justice system, but a panel charged with completing the evaluation in the next couple of years no longer has money for professional staff.

Blagojevich's administration has slashed the entire $250,000 appropriation for the Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee, members said. The governor last month sliced more than $400 million from the new state budget following a drawn-out feud with lawmakers, who may try to override his action in the fall veto session.

A Republican legislator who sits on the death-penalty committee says Blagojevich, a Democrat, is hobbling the group and impeding its serious mission by yanking its money.

"There are few matters more important to the state than making sure we never again send innocent people to death row," Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale said earlier this week. "Removal of this money ... hampers the safeguards to our judicial system."

The panel's chairman, former U.S. attorney Thomas Sullivan, said the cut would not stop the volunteer members from continuing to meet regularly. But he said panelists wanted to use the money to retain a staff member and pay a Loyola University expert to help compile a statewide survey on capital cases. The committee generates modest expenses additionally, such as travel costs, he said.

"It will impair us, but it doesn't kill us," Sullivan said of the lost funds. "We can function without these paid assistants; it's just that we won't function as well."

The five-year panel was created in 2003 as part of a legislative package designed to make Illinois' capital justice system fair and accurate. The state's history of wrongfully convicting more than a dozen death-row prisoners - exonerated while behind bars - prompted then-Gov. George Ryan to impose a moratorium on executions in 2000. Blagojevich has carried it over, though prosecutors continue to seek the death penalty in some cases.

Blagojevich in January 2004 stressed the importance of assessing the new reforms, which included requirements that police tape murder-case confessions and follow standards for witness lineups.

"We must have actual proof that these reforms are effective," the governor said in a written statement as he signed a follow-up measure. "We must convince the people of this state that they can put their faith in their system of justice."

Blagojevich budget spokesman Justin DeJong on Thursday said the study committee did not use all of the money from its previous two appropriations, spending only $86,800 of a $150,000 appropriation in fiscal 2007. He said the governor last spring did not recommend any funding for the panel for the current fiscal year, though lawmakers added $250,000 during the legislative session.

"This year, we had to prioritize spending to meet education and health-care needs," DeJong said in an e-mail. "We believe we can work within the existing budget or revisit funding for this initiative if it is necessary to complete the report."

The study committee has issued yearly reports and theoretically is slated to sunset in late 2008. But Sullivan, the chairman, noted the 16-member panel got off to a late start waiting on appointees to be named and may ask lawmakers for a one- or two-year extension to wrap up its work.

The staff member who has assisted the committee, special counsel Peter Baroni, said he was paid $185 per hour. Sullivan said the criminal defense attorney has helped the panel stage meetings and hearings and keep records.

Baroni said he would like to stay involved with the committee's work, but on a reduced schedule if he is not going to be paid.

"I have a family to feed," he said.

Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net.

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