It's been nearly two months since the Illinois General Assembly voted to abolish the state's death penalty, and sent the legislation to Governor Pat Quinn's desk.
Quinn, who has previously said he supports the death penalty, has until March 18 to make a final decision on the matter, but people on both sides of the debate have been pressuring him in recent days.
On Monday, the Chicago Tribune editorialized in favor of Quinn abolishing the death penalty in Illinois. Last week, the families of murder victims held a press conference to voice their opposition to the ban. Either way, Quinn has a tough decision to make.
Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson faced a similar decision in 2009. Though he personally believed in the death penalty, he realized there were "too many mistakes" made and ultimately decided to ban it.
It was a gut-wrenching call. Long a supporter of capital punishment, Richardson had become troubled about the risk of wrongful executions. So he set up a hotline to hear from citizens. He sifted through thousands of letters and e-mails. He sought the counsel of corrections officials and law enforcement officers and met with families of murder victims. He prayed. He anguished. Hours before the deadline -- midnight March 18, 2009 -- he shut himself in his office and made the decision.
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Richardson told us he hasn't spoken to Quinn about the bill, but if he did, "I'd recommend that he sign it."
Illinois has removed 20 wrongly condemned people from death row since 1987. In 2000, then-Gov. George Ryan issued a moratorium on executions, saying that the system was broken.
"This is a state in which this was used and then stopped, it was debated for years, fixed - or reformed - and finally there was a resolution by just getting rid of it, so that's about as thorough a process as any state could do," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "That's significant."
The Cook and DuPage County State's Attorneys have urged Quinn not to sign the legislation. Some prosecutors told the Sun-Times last week that the death penalty is used as a bargaining tool that helps them convince suspects to plead guilty. Others say that tactic is unfair.
If Quinn does sign the measure, Illinois would be the fourth state since 2007 to ban capital punishment.