She'd lift ban on executions, Topinka says

[Judi Lynn]

She'd lift ban on executions, Topinka says

December 16, 2005

BY DAVE MCKINNEY AND DAN ROZEK Staff Reporters Advertisement

Staking out a tough law-and-order stance as she introduced her new running mate, Judy Baar Topinka pledged Thursday to lift Illinois' five-year moratorium on executions if she is elected governor.

The Republican candidate called the moratorium "a temporary condition'' that she will end -- a position embraced by many in her party's conservative wing, including her choice for lieutenant governor, DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett.

"Yes, I will lift the moratorium,'' Topinka said as she flew around the state to introduce Birkett as her running mate. "It's a temporary condition. It is not forever. It is not the law.''

In 2000, Republican Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on executions and later commuted the death sentences of 156 prisoners after the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the murder convictions of 13 former Death Row inmates.
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http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-gov16.html



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