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Johnny Brown, as the murder, as well as the problems with the death penalty and his beliefs as to why it should be repealed.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.