Local Lawmakers Takes Sides on Illinois Death Penalty Repeal

State Senator Mike Frerichs said he expects to vote to repeal the Illinois death penalty --- if the measure comes up when the Illinois Senate meets on Monday.

The repeal bill narrowly passed the Illinois House on Thursday, and Frerichs said he thinks other lawmakers will join him in supporting it. The Champaign Democrat says the important point to him is that the death penalty has been handed out to too many people who were found to have been wrongly convicted.

"I think the penalty has (been) shown to have grave errors over the last few decades here in our state," Frerichs said. "I think that's why a lot of people are probably supportive of the appeal."

But Onarga Republican Shane Cultra said he still believes the death penalty is a necessary deterrent to violent crime --- and that the introduction of DNA evidence has done a lot to prevent wrongful convictions.

"I think there's enough safeguards in place," Cultra said. "Certainly there's more that we can do --- they haven't fully implemented all the things that were supposed to be done, but they've done enough of them. And plus some of these crimes are so heinous, that I just feel that life imprisonment just isn't enough."

Cultra voted against repealing the death penalty in the Illinois House, and he may get a chance to vote on it again, if the Senate takes up the bill in the final days of the veto session next week. Cultra will be sworn in as a State Senator on Sunday, taking the place of Treasurer-elect Dan Rutherford.

There have been no executions in Illinois since former governor George Ryan declared a moratorium ten years ago. While maintaining the moratorium, Governor Pat Quinn has said he supports the death penalty for the most serious crimes.