Attorneys for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who faces up to 20 years in prison for corruption, said Tuesday the possible penalty is excessive and asked the judge to show mercy.
Illinois put an end to capital punishment Wednesday as Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the practice and commuting the sentences of his state's remaining death row inmates.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn says abolishing the state's death penalty was the most difficult decision he's ever made.
It was two-and-a-half days before Illinois Gov. George Ryan was to leave office in 2003. I sat in a crowded auditorium in Northwestern University's Law School in Chicago, where Ryan was expected to make a major announcement on capital punishment.
Federal prosecutors say they've uncovered a "political corruption crime spree" involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who allegedly hatched a variety of bribery schemes to enrich himself and his family while silencing critics.
Since moving to Chicago 4½ years ago from Texas, I've been amazed to watch the political machinations in this state, and see how easy it is for residents to dismiss the rampant corruption of some political officials as nothing more than the cost of doing business.
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan and a co-defendant lost another legal round at the Supreme Court on Tuesday and will remain in prison on federal racketeering and fraud convictions.
Ex-Illinois Gov. George Ryan left his home early Wednesday for the federal correctional center in Oxford, Wis., where he will serve a 6 1/2-year corruption sentence
A federal appeals court upheld former Gov. George Ryan's racketeering and fraud conviction Tuesday and refused to grant him a new trial in the biggest political scandal to rock Illinois in decades.
``Ain't you a-feared? Ain't you a-tremblin'?'' said a schoolmaster in a Dickens novel.
Use of the death penalty by states continued a five-year decline in 2004, according to an annual report by a nonprofit group that opposes capital punishment.
Over the past 15 years, federal prosecutors in Connecticut have indicted four mayors, taken down the state treasurer, put palm-greasing bankers behind bars and won a guilty plea from a top aide to the governor. But in the past four months, their corruption probe of former Gov. John G. Rowland's administration has taken a particularly aggressive turn.
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