[listen to remarks by Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights]

MEDIA CONTACT: Pat Vaughan Tremmel at (847) 491-4892 or p-tremmel@northwestern.edu

December 17, 2002

Largest Gathering of Exonerated at Northwestern, Dead Men Relay Walk Across Illinois and Special Staging of 'The Exonerated' for Gov. Ryan

CHICAGO --- The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law shone a bright light on flaws in the capital punishment system Dec. 15 and 16.

On Dec. 15, the largest gathering ever of exonerated death row prisoners (36) and prominent advocates for reform of the capital punishment system took center stage at the law school; on Dec. 16, 30 of the of exonerated participated in a "Dead Men Walking" relay walk across Illinois; and on Monday evening a special performance of "The Exonerated," a highly acclaimed play that features a number of celebrities, premiered in Chicago in a special performance staged for Gov. George H. Ryan.

"The events underscored flaws in the capital punishment system –- false confessions, lying jailhouse snitches, erroneous eyewitness testimony, incompetent lawyers," said Professor Lawrence C. Marshall, legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

"The flesh-and-blood consequences of the system’s flaws were brought home as Gov. Ryan faces a momentous decision on whether to commute all of Illinois’ current death sentences to life in prison without parole."

Speakers at the Dec. 15 gathering included Stephen B. Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights; Mike Farrell, actor, producer, writer, director and chair of Death Penalty Focus; Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; the Center on Wrongful Convictions’ Marshall; Barry Scheck, professor and co-founder, Innocence Project, Cardozo School of Law; and Denise LeBoeuf, director, Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana.

The "Dead Men Walking" relay began before daybreak Dec. 16. Thirty of the exonerated death row prisoners, each with a prominent companion walker, participated in the walk from Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet, site of the executions that have taken place in Illinois, to the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago (100 W. Randolph).

Gary Gauger, accompanied by Marshall, began the walk at Stateville at 4:30 a.m., and a letter urging Gov. Ryan to commute all death sentences to life in prison without parole, was passed from one exonerated person to the next at one-mile intervals along the 37-mile route. Around 4:30 p.m., Anthony Porter, with David Protess, the Medill School of Journalism professor, who, with his students, broke Porter’s case, concluded the walk at the Thompson Center, where the letter was delivered to Gov. Ryan.

The play "The Exonerated" featured Richard Dreyfuss (Kerry Max Cook), Mike Farrell (Gary Gauger), Danny Glover (Delbert Tibbs), David Brown, Jr. (Robert Hayes) and Curtis McLarin (David Keaton). The audience included Gov. Ryan, many former death row prisoners, including the six featured in the play, as well as judges, legislators and others concerned with wrongful convictions. At the conclusion of the play, exonerated audience members gathered on stage, embracing the actors, and Marshall read the letter to the governor.

Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, the "intense and affecting documentary play is an artfully edited anthology of interviews with six former death row prisoners who were all discovered to be innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted," according to The New York Times.

Flaws in the capital punishment system have led to wrongful convictions and death sentences in 102 cases nationally, including 13 in Illinois. It is expected that between 35 and 40 of the exonerated will attend the gathering, according to Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

The center is an outgrowth of the National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty that Marshall and others convened at Northwestern School of Law in November 1998. The conference sensitized the public as never before to the alarming number of innocent persons who have been sentenced to death in the United States

The 13 Illinois exonerations prompted Gov. Ryan to declare a moratorium on executions and appoint a blue-ribbon commission to study the problem and recommend reforms. The commission recommended 85 reform measures, which currently are being debated by the Illinois General Assembly. Before Gov. Ryan leaves office on Jan. 13, he will decide on clemency petitions brought in the cases of 160 men and women currently under death sentence in Illinois.