I agree. Some here know I have become opposed to the death penalty because it is proved there have been, and likely will always be, many people found guilty who are in truth not.
Oregon's "aggravated murder" statute reserves capital punishment for the most serious of crimes, but does little to address the quality of evidence presented at trial - though I'm not sure any evidence could be sufficiently perfect.
Boots and Proctor. Accused and convicted of a 1983 convenience store robbery/slaying, and among the "poster children" for Oregon's 1984 capital punishment reinstatement campaign, didn't do it.
Recall if you will. Eight years hence they got out of prison after the real killer came to conclude his own life in a bizarre suicide, leaving behind an opus which proved his guilt.
Try bringing any sort of justice to the wrongly convicted if they are already dead as a result of that conviction.
George Ryan did the right thing in Illinois (in my opinion), and I would grudgingly praise Kitz were he to the same thing and commute all the sentences, rather than just kick the can down the road.
That said, I still wouldn't vote for Kitz if he were running for dogcatcher.