The Associated Press is reporting that Illinois governor Pat Quinn will sign legislation abolishing the death penalty. The AP's source are two Illinois state legislators:
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.
Quinn's office has remained mum, although during the past few weeks Quinn has spoken with both death penalty opponents and proponents, along with speaking to the families of victims. Quinn previously indicated he supported capital punishment, but also indicated he could be swayed to sign the legislation. It appears he has been so swayed. Illinois currently has a moratorium in place since former governor George Ryan imposed one after the discovery of significant problems with Illinois' application of capital punishment, and subsequently commuted the sentences of every condemned inmate on Illinois' death row prior to leaving office.
This would make Illinois the third state to legislatively abolish capital punishment since the Supreme Court reauthorized use of the death penalty in Gregg v. Georgia, following in the footsteps of New Jersey and New Mexico. New York also abolished the death penalty after the adoption of post-Furman statutes, however both times the statutes were struck down by the New York State Court of Appeals, New York's highest court.