Illinois Democrats Challenge Rauner Aide On Death Penalty Plan

SPRINGFIELD, IL — One week after Gov. Bruce Rauner announced a gun control and criminal justice proposal including a reinstatement of the death penalty for certain offenses, Democratic legislators questioned of the Republican governor's top aides during a House Judiciary-Criminal Committee hearing Monday. According to NBC Chicago, the hearing included emotional pleas and questions from several officials including Karen Yarbrough, Cook County recorder of deeds, and committee Democrats, in an effort to continue the ban on executions.

Rauner's proposal included reinstating the death penalty for individuals convicted of killing law enforcement officers and mass shootings.

During the hearing, Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz and David Risely, Rauner's director of criminal justice and public safety policy, argued that Rauner's plan is "specifically crafted" to treat past problems. Rauner vetoed the bill last week, adding the capital punishment proposal and measures that including lengthening the waiting period on all guns from 24 to 72 hours.

More From Patch: Death Penalty Should Apply To Cop Killers, Mass Shooters: Rauner

Patch reported on the governor's office announced the "precedent-setting public safety initiative" on May 14, a six-point plan that also includes emergency orders to disarm gun owners, a ban on bump stock and trigger crank devices and measures to improve school safety. The plan is part of an amendatory veto of House Bill 1468, sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Carroll (D-Northbrook), which calls to reinstate the death penalty in exchange for even stricter gun restrictions than the ones that were approved by the House in February and the Senate in March.

Carroll recently described the bill as a loophole that allowed for AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles to be purchased with just a 24 hours waiting period. No Republicans spoke against the bill during its House floor debate before it was sent to the governor's desk on March 15.

Capital punishment was in place in Illinois until 2000, when then-governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on the practice due to the number of wrongfully convicted inmates on death row. From 1976 until that time, 12 people were executed by the state, and 20 people were exonerated. Rauner's predecessor, Gov. Pat Quinn, signed a bill repealing the death penalty in 2011.

Rauner said the new and improved death penalty would have a higher standard than "beyond a reasonable doubt," as juries would have to convict alleged mass murderers and cop-killers "beyond all doubt," and appeals courts would then also have to apply the same new standard and conduct an independent review.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)