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Illinois Death Row Exoneree Darby Tillis Tells His Story

Darby Tillis was convicted of a double murder and robbery and sentenced to death row along with Perry Cobb following three trials by jury despite a lack of physical evidence linking Darby to the crime. In this video, Darby chronicles his wrongful conviction, which was overturned when a witness, then Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Michael Falconer, stepped forward with evidence that pointed to the prosecution's key witness' boyfriend, Johnny Brown, as the murder, as well as the problems with the death penalty and his beliefs as to why it should be repealed.

The case against these two men features many of the problems with the death penalty, which Darby points out. Darby Tillis, and Perry Cobb, were convicted based upon the false testimony of Phyllis Santini, who had committed the robbery with her boyfriend who she admitted to others had shot the two victims of the crime, and the dubious testimony of Arthur Shields, who by his own admission said that he has difficulty distinguishing photographs of African Americans by an all-white jury for the double murder of two caucasian men. The trial judge, Thomas Maloney, would later be convicted of corruption by the federal government for accepting bribes in capital cases; Maloney was later found to be especially harsh against defendants who had not bribed him in order to prevent his illegal activities from surfacing.

Both Darby and Perry would later be pardoned by former Governor Ryan based upon their actual innocence, but that does not give either men back the years they lost on death row, or change the fact that two innocent men who were convicted based upon little to no physical evidence and false eye witness testimony were sentenced to death. Illinois has made far too many mistakes with the death penalty, as these two men are only two of twenty men wrongfully convicted and placed on death row who were later found innocent, including two men who were exonerated just last year. It is time for Illinois to repeal the death penalty as the system it is a broken system that cannot by fixed.

Guest Blog: Questions Raised by Release of Jerry Hobbs

Among the haunting questions raised by the release of Jerry Hobbs is this: Why does Illinois still have the death penalty on its books? And how close did we come – this time – to sending another innocent man to Death Row?

Some will say that Hobbs was saved by DNA evidence, and our ability to read such evidence will insure that the system works. Others will give thanks that the confession police coerced from Hobbs was finally proven false, and that the law now mandates the taping of the whole interrogation in homicide cases. However, neither circumstance should reassure us that what happened to Jerry Hobbs can’t happen again.

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Meet and Greet For Murder Victims' Families - Aug. 16th at Maggiano's

ICADP is joining Equal Justice USA, Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation in hosting a Meet and Greet for Murder Victims’ Families.

As ICADP works to abolish the death penalty, we will work to highlight the many ways in which the system fails to take care of murder victims’ family members. Diverting desperately needed resources is one of those failures.

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One More Way to Help ICADP

At our Annual Meeting on July 13th, ICADP talked about ways in which you can help repeal the death penalty, such as by donating to ICADP or hosting an event at your church. However, there is yet another way for you to help ICADP.

Each month, ICADP board member Barry Pearce organizes visits to death row inmates. Often times, these are the only visitors these men have each month.

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Death Row Exoneree Randy Steidl Shares His Story

Randy Steidl

Today, the State-Journal Register in Springfield, Illinois published an op-ed by death row exoneree, Randy Steidl.

Randy Steidl was exonerated after wrongfully spending 17 years in prison, and twelve on death row, for the murders of Dyke and Karen Rhoads in Paris, Illinois, a crime he did not commit. He was exonerated through the work of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern. He is one of the twenty innocent people exonerated from death row in Illinois since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Since being exonerated, Randy has been working to end the death penalty not only in the state of Illinois where he was wrongfully convicted, but throughout the country.

Read Randy’s story and his call for the repeal of the death penalty here.

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