Cruz 'shocked' by Ryan's 'sorry'

Rolando Cruz, who sat on death row for a murder he didn't commit after being prosecuted by Jim Ryan, tells the Daily Herald he is "shocked" the former attorney general has issued an apology as he runs for governor.
"He manned up," Cruz tells the Daily Herald's Christy Gutowski.
Cruz also now wants a sit-down with Ryan, who is running the Republican primary.
"I ask him to be true to his word. If he is telling the truth, and really means what he is saying, then he'll sit down with me face to face and listen to me about what it's like to be an innocent man on death row," Cruz said. "There are five sides to this story. I'm one of them. If he really wants to understand the death penalty, they let me help him. Let me work with him. He needs to understand this side of it. I want him to see I'm not a Brian Dugan. I am a human being. Then he will really see how he almost murdered an innocent person."
The former Illinois attorney general released a statement today saying he is "sorry" for the wrongful conviction of Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez for the rape and murder of Jeanine Nicarico, a young suburban girl, in the early 1980s.
Brian Dugan, who confessed to authorities shortly after Cruz and Hernandez were put on death row, was given a death sentence for the murder by a jury Wednesday. Ryan prosecuted both as DuPage County state's attorney and pursued follow-up prosecutions of Cruz after the Supreme Court repeatedly tossed out the convictions.
It is the first time Ryan has apologized for sending two innocent men to death row.
In his 2002 race for governor, Ryan dodged questions from the Daily Herald about the case, but said he had less confidence in the judicial system because of the wrongful convictions.
In today's Daily Herald, Cruz was quoted as saying: "I want Jim Ryan to know I'm still here. If he runs for governor, I'll be right there with him. Every door he knocks on, I'll knock on too."
Below is the entire statement from Ryan e-mailed to the press this afternoon.
He also calls for more death penalty reforms before lifting the moratorium on executions, which has remained in place since imposed by Gov. George Ryan when Jim Ryan was attorney general.
To that end, current DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett, who prosecuted Dugan, released a statement today saying he disagrees with Ryan on the death penalty.
"Not only is the moratorium inconsistent with our constitution, it can mislead jurors into thinking that the death penalty is not 'for real' and if they impose it, the penalty will never be carried out," said Birkett. "If a prosecutor made such an argument the case would be reversed because it diminishes the responsibility of the jurors who must make the ultimate decision."
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Here is Ryan's statement
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On Wednesday, Brian Dugan was sentenced to death for the murder of Jeanine Nicarico. In the case of Brian Dugan, the criminal justice system worked. In previous prosecutions, it did not. I said in interviews in 2002 that I had less confidence in the accuracy of the criminal justice system than I did earlier in my career. I continue to believe that.

In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, prosecutors, detectives and police officers acted in good faith and still came up with the wrong result. In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, the system and I failed to achieve a just outcome. And for that I am sorry.

Although I continue to believe that the state has the right to take a life under limited circumstances to protect society, I also believe we must do more to ensure the accuracy of the system of capital punishment and limit its application to the “worst of the worst,” such as Brian Dugan.

I believe we must do more to ensure the accuracy of the criminal justice system. Good intentions are not enough when human life is at stake.

If I am elected governor, I will not lift the moratorium on capital punishment until we have created a more limited and accurate system of capital punishment. While Illinois has made significant progress, other reforms have been left on the table, such as a reduction in the number of eligibility factors that trigger the death penalty.

As Governor, I will work with prosecutors, law enforcement officials, judges and those opposed to the death penalty to draft a more narrow and accurate system of capital punishment. Once these reforms have been enacted by the General Assembly, I will lift the moratorium on capital punishment.

If I’m elected Governor, with a team of advisors, I will carefully review every conviction on a case-by-case basis should any death penalty cases reach my desk.

For nearly a decade in Illinois, capital punishment has been in partial limbo. As we move forward, in order to provide guidance to all in the criminal justice system and the next Governor and General Assembly, I favor allowing the people of Illinois to weigh in on this important issue. I support a statewide advisory referendum on whether citizens continue to support capital punishment or favor sentences of natural life without parole.

If we are to retain capital punishment as a sentencing alternative, then we owe it to the citizens of Illinois and former defendants in death penalty cases who have been exonerated to learn from our mistakes, including my own, to ensure the criminal justice system is as accurate and fair as humanly possible.