A question for all you death penalty advocates

[James]

How many innocent people is it ok to kill to get at the guilty ones? Is there a percentage or ratio?

Illinois Gov. Ryan weighs death row decisions
Outgoing leader blasts state's 'shameful record'

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) --Illinois Gov. George Ryan is facing pressure from death penalty opponents on one side and victims' families on the other as he considers what to do about 160 men on death row in the final weeks of his administration.

Ryan ordered clemency hearings for all death row inmates, starting in October, and has said he will decide whether to commute all or some of their sentences to life in prison before leaving office January 13.

Ryan, a conservative Republican and death penalty supporter, ordered a moratorium on all executions in the state in January, 2000, after Northwestern University journalism students uncovered evidence that helped clear Anthony Porter -- a death row inmate who came within two days of being executed for a double murder. Another man has since confessed to the crime.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, 13 people who were sentenced to die have had their convictions overturned and were set free. Illinois has executed 12 people during that period.

When he issued the moratorium, Ryan said the death penalty system was "fraught with error" and blasted the state's "shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row."

A panel Ryan appointed to study the death penalty called for an overhaul and recommended that the ban on executions be kept indefinitely if the system is not changed. Democrat Rod Blagojevich will become the next governor.

Families of victims decry changes
Dozens of victims' family members have begged Ryan and the clemency board not to spare people convicted of their loved ones' killings.

Thomas Ramos Jr., whose sister was killed, said he was worried that Ryan will commute the death sentences to leave a legacy.

"They're not going to name any building after him. They're not going to name any highway after him," Ramos said.

On Thursday, Ryan pardoned three men who had already been exonerated. One of those men was Gary Gauger, who was convicted in 1994 of killing his parents and served three years on death row before being freed by an appeals court in 1997. Two other men have been convicted of killing his parents.

Gauger said on CNN's Connie Chung Tonight on Friday that he was estranged from his family and was suffering physical and emotional symptoms six years later.

When asked if he thought he would ever get over feeling bitter and angry, he said: "Bitter or angry isn't even close to what's happening to me."

"Getting over it? You can't get over this," Gauger said. "When your life is irrevocably changed, like mine was ... the best you can do is try to turn it around and make something positive about it."

CNN Correspondent Jeff Flock contributed

[valkyrie]

I have voted for a republican exactly once in my life, and I am happy to say that it was a vote for George Ryan. At the time, I thought that he was a lot less frightening than the democrat who ran against him (who was also very conservative). It was a hard decision to make because Ryan is basically detested in Illinois for other reasons (a scandal involving drivers' licenses and bribes).

However, I am happy to say that I voted for him because of his stand on the death penalty alone. Go, George! I hope he commutes EVERY one of the death sentences in this state.