By AP/KWMU
Springfield, ILL – Two Republican senators in Illinois have introduced legislation aimed at ending the moratorium on executions in the state.
It would require the attorney general to ask the Supreme Court to set execution dates once defendants have finished their legal appeals. Then if the governor wants to block the execution, he would have to formally delay it, commute the prisoner's sentence or issue a pardon.
Right now, Governor Rod Blagojevich has adopted a policy of not carrying out any executions.
Republican Senator Dale Righter of Mattoon is one of the sponsors. He says forcing the governor to act on each execution might end the moratorium that began four years ago under former Governor George Ryan.
Righter says the families of murder victims deserve to have executions carried out.