To the editors:
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One of the least publicized and best kept secrets is the effect the death penalty has on juries and judges. The Reader gives an example of how one jury was in a hurry to find a man guilty so they could get to a “happy hour” at a local bar. The sad facts are that a number of death penalty jurors will spend a good portion of the rest of their life in bars trying to wash away feelings of remorse over participating in the killing of a fellow man or woman. One researcher found a juror still “ripped to pieces” more than fifteen years later. A juror in another case still broke down and cried thirteen years after participating as a juror in a state killing. Others are reported to have committed suicide after sitting on a death penalty jury because they could no longer live with their guilt. Courts all over the country are finding it harder and harder to select a jury for capital crime cases and prosecutors and judges are finding it increasingly difficult to “brain wash” juries into thinking that a vote for death is all part of a day’s work.
The Pruntys were killed in their home and the three were said to have been identified by Mrs. Prunty. Six years after sentencing, Judge Freeman obtained evidence which he believed to be a police frame-up, in that the Chicago police had virtually forced Mrs. Prunty to swear that they were the murderers. For many years thereafter, Judge Freeman made strenuous efforts to obtain their release. The fact that no Illinois governor would take responsibility for setting them free preyed on his mind until it finally broke.
Erling N. Sannes
