ILLINOIS GOVERNOR PARDONS FOUR DEATH ROW INMATES

Ryan made the announcement in an advanced text of a speech he planned to deliver Friday afternoon, AP reported. The outgoing governor said he was pardoning Madison Hobley, Stanley Howard, Aaron Patterson and Leroy Orange.
"Today, I am pardoning them of the crimes for which they were wrongfully prosecuted and sentenced to die," Ryan said.
"I have reviewed these cases and I believe a manifest injustice has occurred. I have reviewed these cases and I believe these men are innocent. I still have some faith in the system that eventually these men would have received justice in our courts but the old adage is true: Justice delayed is justice denied."
All but Howard, who was convicted of a separate crime, were expected to be released from prison Friday, Ryan said.
Ryan´s speech at DePaul University was the first of two that cap the Republican governor´s three-year campaign to highlight flaws in the state´s capital punishment system. His other speech is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Northwestern University law school.
Hobley´s sister, Robin, burst into tears Friday morning as she read an advance copy of the speech handed out by the governor´s aides as she and other guests waited for him to arrive at DePaul.
"I´ve read so many horrible transcripts in the last 15 years, I can´t believe what I´m reading," she said. "I´m speechless right now."
Ryan has said he will announce before he leaves office Monday whether he will grant clemency to any or all the state´s 160 death row inmates.