Governor Quinn Must Pardon Randy Steidl…

He survived 17 years in the Illinois prison system, 12 on death row, for a crime he did not commit. That is something few of us can fathom. Now he is fighting against the death penalty as the board chairman of Witness to Innocence, the national organization of exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones. Randy helped bring about the repeal of the death penalty in his home state of Illinois, when Gov. Pat Quinn signed an abolition bill into law.

Now all Randy is looking for is a pardon from the Governor. And he’s been waiting for an answer for 11 years, since he first filed his petition. Is it so much for an innocent man to ask?

Steidl and co-defendant Herbert Whitlock were convicted and sentenced to death for the 1986 double murder of Dyke and Karen Rhoads, a newlywed couple in Paris, Illinois, in the rural Southern part of the state. The couple had been brutally stabbed to death in their bedroom.

Meanwhile, the miscarriages of justice plaguing Randy’s case provide us with clear reasons as to why the death penalty is a problem. In essence, Randy Steidl was framed by the police and the prosecutors. His wrongful conviction was secured through the “creation” of two sketchy witnesses, who came forward years after the fact to claim they witnessed the murders, and later recanted. There was fabrication and suppression of evidence. In fact, no physical evidence linked the men to the crime. Further, Randy suffered from an inexperienced lawyer who couldn’t get the job done, didn’t ask the right questions, and failed to look into the prosecution’s manufactured case against his client.