Death Takes a Holiday

By Wendy Cole/Chicago

Edgar Ace Hope Jr. isn't someone you would want living next door. He has been found guilty in a string of crimes starting at age 14, when he stole a bag of groceries, and culminating in his conviction in two separate murders in 1983. Hope, now 40, has admitted one of those killings, for which he is expected to receive a life sentence at a new hearing. But he steadfastly denies committing the other crime--the slaying of a security guard at a Chicago McDonald's, for which he was sentenced to death. His lawyer last month detailed persuasive new evidence that implicates another man in the McDonald's case. If, as expected, Hope is exonerated this summer, he would be Illinois' 14th death-row inmate since 1987 to be cleared of murder.

Hope's case last week helped persuade Republican Governor George Ryan, a death-penalty advocate, to take the unprecedented step of halting executions in the state. He said there would be no more lethal injections until he could "be sure with moral certainty" that no more innocent people were headed for execution.

Ryan's action comes as inmates nationwide are being put to death at an accelerating pace. Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, there have been 610 executions--98 of them last year alone. But exonerations in Illinois have surpassed the number of executions (12), causing even hard-liners to take another look at capital punishment.

Over the past five years Northwestern University journalism and law students uncovered key evidence that helped overturn the convictions of seven death-row inmates in Illinois. "It's exhilarating," said journalism professor David Protess. "But it's outrageous that we were the defense against innocent people being put to death."

Support for the Governor's decision comes from some surprising corners, including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who as Cook County State's Attorney during the 1980s prosecuted five of the death-penalty cases that were later overturned. Daley blames the flurry of exonerations on incompetent defense counsel. A recent Chicago Tribune investigation found that at least 33 death-row inmates in Illinois had been represented at trial by attorneys who were later disbarred or suspended.

Four other states--New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Kentucky--are considering halting executions, while Oregon opponents are seeking a voter referendum this November to abolish them.

--By Wendy Cole/Chicago