Host a Speaker
The ICADP Speakers Bureau offers a collection of the state's most important figures on the death penalty. Speakers are available for venues across the state. All hosting organizations are encouraged to contribute a stipend for speakers. All donations are tax deductible. If you would like to host a speaker, please contact us at 312-673-3816 or by email at info@icadp.org. See the bios below for some of the speakers available.
Delbert Tibbs
Florida Death Row Exoneree
Lives in Chicago, Illinois
A former Master’s student at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Delbert Tibbs was on a self-described spiritual journey, walking across the country, when he was arrested for a rape and murder he did not commit. The witness changed her description of the killer after seeing Polaroid pictures of Delbert, and came close to acknowledging that the actual killer was her ex-boyfriend in court before the judge called a recess. An all-white jury returned a guilty verdict and death sentence in less than two days. Through tremendous outside support, Delbert accessed better legal representation and was exonerated in 1977. He is a published poet and is writing a book based on his life story.
Randy Steidl
Illinois Death Row Exoneree
Lives in Charleston, Illinois
Randy was put on death row for the murder of two people he did not know. Witnesses gave false testimony, he had poor legal representation, and – despite a lack of physical evidence to incriminate him – he ended up being sentenced to death. After over 17 years in jail, it was revealed that Randy had been framed. The man responsible for the murder had ties to the governor, and so was never tried or convicted. Through the work of the Center for Wrongful Convictions, a federal judge was granted a new trial to Randy. In 2004 Randy was finally released from prison. He played a powerful role in New Mexico’s abolition of the death penalty in 2009 by testifying in front of the state senate.
Nathson Fields
Illinois Death Row Exoneree
Lives in Chicago, Illinois
Nathson Fields and co-defendant Earl Hawkins were sentenced to death for the 1984 murders of two rival gang members. The original trial, however, was marred by corruption. The judge in the case, Circuit Judge Thomas Maloney, accepted a $10,000 bribe during the trial. Maloney, who died in 2008, would later go on to spend 13 years in prison for fixing murder trials. As a result, Fields and Hawkins were granted new trials in 1998. Hawkins, who had admitted to killing 15 to 20 people, testified against Fields in exchange for a lesser sentence. However, at Fields' retrial, Judge Vincent Gaughan found Hawkins’ testimony to be implausible. Fields spent almost twenty years in prison, including 11.5 years on death row. He was released in 2003 and acquitted in 2009.
Ronald Kitchen
Illinois Death Row Exoneree
Lives in Chicago, Illinois
On July 7, 2009 Ronald Kitchen was exonerated after spending twenty-one years in prison, thirteen of which were on death row. Kitchen and a co-defendant were found guilty of the murders of two women and three children in 1988, but his conviction was based primarily on a confession he gave after hours of beating and threats. Prosecutors also relied on the testimony of a friend of the defendants who was in prison for burglary, who was released early in exchange for testifying. This witness later recanted his testimony.
Gary Gauger
Illinois Death Row Exoneree
Lives in Richmond, Illinois
When Gary Gauger was 41, his parents were murdered at their McHenry County farm. Gary discovered his father’s body and called 911. Despite a lack of physical evidence linking Gary to the crime and utilization of a false confession, Gary was convicted of the double murders. A judge sentenced him to death for the crime. It was another six years before the real killer, a member of the biker gang known as the “Outlaws,” confessed to the crime. Gary was released and returned to farming, and in 2002 received an official pardon based on innocence from Illinois Governor George H. Ryan.
More Speakers are available.
