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Illinois Supreme Court guidelines set standards for attorneys in capital cases

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (CNN) -- Gov. George Ryan will not base his decision on how to reform the Illinois' death penalty system solely on reforms announced this week by a state supreme court panel, the governor's spokesman said Tuesday.

The panel's recommendations would "probably help improve the way trials are conducted. It's just a piece of the puzzle," said spokesman Dennis Culloton.

A commission the governor created last January is studying "huge issues the court has no control over," and Ryan awaits the commission's recommendations to decide what reforms must be implemented, Culloton said. The gubernatorial panel has no set deadline.

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Among the broad themes the commission is studying are the caliber of defense lawyers who take on capital cases, DNA testing, post-conviction appeals, and the role race plays in the criminal-justice system, Culloton said.

Ryan, a Republican, halted the death penalty because the state released 13 death row inmates who had been wrongly convicted while executing just 12 others since capital punishment was reinstated in Illinois in 1977. The governor has said he wants no one to be executed unless the person's guilt is clear, Culloton said.

The Illinois legislature has set up a panel to study the prosecutorial misconduct.

On Monday, the state supreme court panel adopted new rules in capital cases.

Prosecutors would have to make a "good faith effort" to notify defense attorneys of evidence that could help the defense, and they must let defendants know more quickly if they intend to seek the death penalty.

The rules also establish new standards for disclosing DNA evidence and let trial judges decide if defense attorneys can question witnesses before trial. The guidelines also provide seminars for judges who might preside over death penalty cases.

Court spokesman Joseph Tybor said the rules would take effect after the court formally publishes them in March.

Last year, Illinois Gov. George Ryan indefinitely halted all executions in his state after releasing 13 death row inmates, all wrongfully convicted

State Chief Justice Moses W. Harrison II acknowledged that the reforms are limited.

"There are no easy solutions to the problems presented by this state's present death penalty law," he said. "Our court can only change the things we have the power to change, and our power to change the law is narrowly limited."

David Protess, a Northwestern University journalism professor whose students' reporting resulted in the release of five people convicted of capital crimes, said the real problem with capital punishment is that system is broken.

"I don't think anything short of abolition (of the death penalty) is going to solve the problem of wrongful conviction in capital cases. I think the system is broken and it can't be fixed," he said. "My judgment based on the kinds of glaring errors we found in our reporting. Some of the mistakes can't be fixed by the reforms that the court is proposing."

CNN.com Correspondent Raju Chebium and Copyright 2000 The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Illinois Supreme Court sets new rules for death penalty cases
January 23, 2000

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