Watch CBS News

Quinn Aide Says Governor Will Focus On Pardons, Clemency During Final Hours In Office

(CBS) -- Although Pat Quinn's public duties as Illinois governor are now finished, the next couple of days until Bruce Rauner takes the oath of office promise to be busy ones.

A Quinn aide said the governor will focus during his final hours on requests for clemency and executive pardons. Some 2,000 such requests remain on his desk, down from 2,838 when he became governor.

The aide said Quinn will go over some of the recommendations from the Prisoner Review Board alone, but said he expects to seek lots of input from his legal team between now and Monday, when Rauner becomes governor.

Podcast

Quinn has acted since taking office six years ago on at least 4,766 clemency petitions, the most ever by an Illinois governor. That was in stark contrast to his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, who allowed the requests to pile up for most of his six years in office.

Quinn did not take questions at this final public appearance Saturday, an unrelated bill signing ceremony, but the aide said Quinn expected to spend the rest of Saturday, all day Sunday and time Monday morning acting on the clemency requests. She could not say if he would act on two of the higher-profile clemency petitions before him. One is from Gordon "Randy" Steidl, who served 17 years for a 1986 double murder but was freed in 2004 when a judge ruled that the evidence favored an acquittal. The other is from Willie Johnson, whom a judge sentenced to 30 months in prison for recanting his testimony about a 1992 double murder. Former Gov. Jim Thompson is among those in Johnson's corner. He said the Johnson prosecution could prevent those who falsely testified and regret doing so from coming forward.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.