Ethics

Burris Wanted Death Penalty for Innocent Man

By Ed Brayton

Politico reports that the man Gov. Blagojevich has named to replace Obama in the Senate, former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris, relentlessly pursued the death penalty against a man despite clear evidence that he was innocent and the protest of his own deputy who handled the case.

While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983.

But by 1992, another man had confessed to the crime, and Burris' own deputy attorney general was pleading with Burris to drop the case, then on appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Burris refused. He was running for governor.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on January 05, 2009 (boomark / email).