"While I have served in public office for 30 years, my professional training is as a pharmacist, not a lawyer or an accountant."
"I don't know that we do. I had thought ours worked well, but I had never examined it too closely. A lot of media people will be looking for a case that might make Texas Governor George Bush think twice about what he's doing."
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Source: Illinois Death Row Emptied. www.washingtonpost.com. January 12, 2003.
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More quotes by George Ryan
"I am haunted by the demon of error - error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die."
"I support the death penalty. But I also think there has to be no margin for error."
"In the US the overwhelming majority of those executed are psychotic, alcoholic, drug addicted or mentally unstable. They frequently are raised in an impoverished and abusive environment. Seldom are people with money or prestige convicted of capital offenses, even more seldom are they executed."
"Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death."
"Our capitol punishment system is haunted by the demon of error- error in determining guilt, error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die... The legislation couldn't reform it. Lawmakers won't repeal it. I won't stand for it. I had to act... I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates."