Death penalty opponents propose personal declarations against capital punishment

By MARY TALLON - H&R Staff Writer
DECATUR - Macon County Citizens Opposing Capital Punishment are giving individuals opposed to the death penalty the opportunity to declare that, if they are victims of violent crime, they do not want the perpetrator subject to capital punishment.

The group will be on hand 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Decatur Public Library to provide copies of "A Declaration of Life" statements for interested individuals to sign. A notary public will be available.

While the statements are not legally binding, they are intended as a public way for people to declare their opposition to the death penalty, said Sister JoAn Schullian, a Franciscan sister and pastoral associate at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, as well as the president of Macon County Citizens Opposing Capital Punishment.

"There's been enough violence with a murder," she said. "There's more violence when we're going for the death penalty."

Schullian said the group planned to submit the statements to Macon County State's Attorney Jack Ahola in coming weeks, while copies also would be provided to the signers for their personal papers or to be shared with friends and family.

"We have 100 already signed through three different church organizations," she said.

Schullian emphasized that signing the statement does not mean an individual condones criminals escaping consequences for their actions, and many members of the group support life in prison without parole as an adequate alternative to the death penalty.

"This declaration is not meant to be, and should not be taken as, a statement that the person or persons who have committed my homicide should go unpunished," the document states.

Ahola said he would keep the documents on file in his office once they are presented but hoped none of the petitioners were ever hurt so that he would have to consider their wishes in a prosecution.

He planned to meet with the group at a later date to receive the petitions and hear their concerns on the death penalty but said it's not something prosecutors seek without weighing their options very carefully.

"It's not a decision that's taken lightly when you make a decision to go for capital punishment," Ahola said.

Former Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty after news reports revealed that more than a dozen innocent men had been sentenced to death row in Illinois.

Some reforms followed, but Schullian said efforts to review and expand the initial reforms have languished in recent years, even as the moratorium continues because of funding cuts and delayed appointments to boards studying the issue.

Ahola said he and other prosecutors in his office have received more training as a result of the state's death penalty reforms but noted the moratorium hasn't had much of an effect on his office because there have been no death sentences in the county since the moratorium was imposed.

IF YOU GO

"A Declaration of Life"

WHO: Macon County Citizens Opposing Capital Punishment

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Decatur Public Library

Mary Tallon can be reached at mtallon@herald-review.com or 421-7984.

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/05/09/news/local/1032376.txt