Illinois Governor signs law to scrap death penalty; changes 15 sentences

Today, Wednesday, March 09, 2011, Governor Pat Quinn signed a law
that abolishes the death penalty in Illinois.  Nearly a quarter of a
million bloggers flooded the blogosphere with reporting and commentary.

Governor Quinn was lobbied heavily by death penalty advocates and
opponents and it was reported that he thought about this deeply for a
long time.

A lot of bloggers are reporting that the governor is following his
conscience in signing the bill and said it should do away with the death
penalty for everyone.  Governor Quinn then converted the death sentences for 15 convicted murderers to life in prison “without the possibility of parole or release”.

Some bloggers say he finally signed the bill partly due to the mistakes that have been made in Illinois death penalty implementation which led to the moratorium that was in place on further executions.

Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill into law in a private ceremony with just a few anti-death penalty people in attendance including Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon who had been pressuring the governor to sign the legislation.