Case That Emptied Illinois' Death Row Starting to UnravelThis is a little complicated, but former Illinois governor Jack (Doh! George) Ryan decided to commute the sentences of all of Illinois' death row inmates a couple years ago, after a private investigator came forward with a tape recording of a confession by a man to a murder for which another man had been sentenced to death (but had not been executed).
Now that
confession is under attack by the man's attorneys as coerced and false.
Ryan's decision was a horrible mistake. But then, he never showed good judgment, as when he decided that a private sex life with this woman (his now ex-wife, Jeri Ryan) was not enough:
(Actually, as my Illinois-based buddies inform me in the comments section, I've got my Ryans confused. Jack Ryan was a candidate for the US Senate and his sexcapades with his wife resulted in him dropping out of the race, setting the stage for the Alan Keyes fiasco.)
