USA - Illinois. A group of former US attorneys urge Quinn to abolish death penalty.

Former US attorneys, including Thompson and Webb, urge Quinn to abolish death penalty. A group of 65 people that includes some of Illinois' best-known legal names has sent Gov. Quinn a letter urging him to sign legislation abolishing the death penalty. Among those signing the letter were former governor and federal prosecutor James R. Thompson, former Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow and former U.S. attorneys Dan Webb, Scott Lassar, James B. Burns and Thomas P. Sullivan. "We are deeply concerned, as we know you are, about public safety," states the letter, which also was signed by former state prosecutors, judges, assistant Illinois attorneys general, assistant federal prosecutors and U.S. Justice Department lawyers. "But there simply is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime." The letter also says using the death penalty "as an instrument of coercion" to get guilty pleas has led to false convictions and that trying to limit capital punishment to exceptionally heinous crimes would not eliminate its underlying flaws. The Legislature recently (see Feb. 11) passed a bill that would abolish the death penalty on July 1, but Quinn hasn't said whether he will sign it. After the bill is certified in the General Assembly, the governor has 60 days to sign it, veto it or do nothing, in which case it would become law anyway.