Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign the bill to abolish the death penalty in Illinois on Wednesday March 9. This shows that a moratorium is a good strategy to pursue against the death penalty because Illinois started with a moratorium in 2000. Texas should enact a moratorium in 2011, so please register to come to Austin next Wednesday March 16 on the statewide Texas Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty to lobby for a moratorium on executions in Texas.

From the Huffington Post:

CHICAGO — Gov. Pat Quinn intends to abolish the death penalty in Illinois, two sponsors of the legislation said Tuesday.

State Rep. Karen Yarbrough and state Sen. Kwame Raoul told The Associated Press that Quinn’s staff invited them to a signing ceremony Wednesday morning in the governor’s Springfield office.

“It’s going to happen,” Raoul said.

Quinn’s office declined to comment Tuesday about his intentions. He has said he personally supports the death penalty when properly implemented and would make a decision on the bill based on his conscience.

The Chicago Democrat would thrust the state back into the national debate over capital punishment by signing the legislation, which would add Illinois to the list of 15 other states and the District of Columbia without the death penalty. The new law would take effect July 1.

“I’ve heard from many, many people of good faith and good conscience on both sides of the issue. And I’ve tried to be very meticulous and writing down notes and studying those notes and books and e-mails. They’ve really spoken from the heart. I’ve been very proud of the people of Illinois,” Quinn said recently.

Illinois’ last execution was in 1999, a year before then-Republican Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on capital punishment after the death sentences of 13 men were overturned.

Ryan cleared death row before leaving office in 2003 by commuting the death sentences of 167 inmates to life in prison.

If Quinn were to sign the bill, it unclear what he’d do about the 15 inmates currently on Illinois’ death row.

Today, Hank Skinner won his Supreme Court case 6-3, so he can continue to seek DNA testing of evidence. At least year’s Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break, Hank’s wife, Sandrine, spoke at a press conference organized by the students participating at spring break. It was one week before Hank’s scheduled execution. Last year during spring break, the students also visited legislative offices and got Sen Ellis and Rep Naishtat to write clemency letters for Hank Skinner to Governor Perry. If you want to make a major difference in the effort against the death penalty like last year’s participants, register for this year’s spring break at springbreakalternative.org/deathpenalty.

From the New York Times:

The Supreme Court on Monday made it easier for inmates to sue for access to DNA evidence that could prove their innocence.

The legal issue in the case was tightly focused, and quite preliminary: Was Hank Skinner, a death row inmate in Texas, entitled to sue a prosecutor there under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow testing of DNA evidence in his case? By a 6-to-3 vote, the court said yes, rejecting a line of lower-court decisions that had said the only proper procedural route for such challenges was a petition for habeas corpus.

Elizabeth Gilbert will attend and speak to students at the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break, which is March 14-18, 2011 in Austin (To register for the spring break click here). Elizabeth will attend on Thursday, March 17, when the program includes a screening at the SXSW Film Festival of a new documentary about the Todd Willingham case –  “Incendiary“.  The film screens at noon March 17 at the Rollins Theater at the Long Center. After the screeening, Elizabeth Gilbert will participate in a discussion about the film and about the Todd Willingham case, along with the fimmakers.  

Frontline has an interview on their website with Elizabeth. Below is an excerpt in which she talks about her meeting with Todd’s former wife Stacy:

Can you describe your meeting with Stacy?

Stacy came in, and I felt that she was very genuine, and I think this was the first time she had really talked to anybody outside [of the official investigation]. … But to me [she] was just like, “Oh, sure, I’ll meet you; I’ll tell you this is the truth.” … I told her I was a writer; I’m from Houston. I interviewed her; I taped her. And she seemed kind of reserved, nervous, just a person who had a lot of tragedy in her life.

I had heard from Todd that her mother had been murdered, and she had been there. So it seemed like her life had been filled with tragedy, … and she seemed genuinely to feel Todd had not done this. … She really convinced me that she felt that an injustice had been done. … She didn’t feel like he was capable of doing that.

So you believe Stacy told the truth?

Yes, I really do.

Do you remember how she said it?

… She cried, and I just remember her saying, “Todd is not capable of doing that,” just acknowledging that he loved his children. I sensed this very pained individual. … After the conviction, and after Todd was on death row, Stacy decided to get a divorce. She didn’t visit him on death row.