In its Jan. 15 editorial “Obstruction of justice,” the Tribune takes issue with me for blocking the many proposed reforms to the capital punishment system. The editorial ignored several important moves this office has made in recent years even before the moratorium. I have supported the reform work of the Illinois Supreme Court and the great majority of recommendations of the governor’s commission on capital punishment. In some of the more controversial recommendations, we suggested alternatives. For instance, the commission recommends mandatory police videotaping of interrogations. While that is the purview of police and has not been embraced by any federal agencies or by 48 of the 50 states, we recommended that the legislature provide funding for pilot projects to provide a foundation for an effective system. We took the same approach with videotaping statements, and it worked well.
We also agreed that the number of qualifiers for capital punishment be cut in half.
In two sessions, the legislature has not acted on either our recommendations or the commission’s.
In addition, this office has implemented many procedures to improve how we handle capital cases, including taping statements. Since we began in August 1999, we have videotaped more than 700 murder confessions.
The editorial describes prosecutors as “petulant” for using “legal loopholes” to try to void the ex-governor’s actions two weekends ago. It is our legal and moral obligation to the community, including the families of the victims of these convicted murderers, to use valid legal arguments to challenge an abuse of the chief executive’s power. We make no apology for that.
Finally, I agree with the editorial when it chides me for referring to the ex-governor as “a pharmacist by training and a politician by trade.” In the heat of the moment, the words I chose to describe my frustration with the ex-governor’s action were inappropriate.