When Ray Krone was being sentenced in 1992 in the stabbing death of a Phoenix woman, the victim’s mother stood in the courthouse galley pleading with authorities to sentence Krone to death.

Shortly thereafter, they did.

Ten years later, in 2002, DNA tests revealed that Krone had been wrongfully imprisoned on death row. Soon after, the woman’s mother extended her condolences to Krone. At the National Gathering of the Death Row Exonerated, held Dec. 15 and 16 on the Chicago Campus and hosted by Northwestern’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, Krone said he was gripped by one woman’s ability to correct her mistakes — but astonished by the state’s inability to do the same.

“That woman’s apology was the most touching personal experience of my life,” Krone said. “I always want to be that forgiving. I never got (an apology) from the state, by the way.”

One by one, 35 men stood at the lectern at the Law School’s Thorne Auditorium in front more than 700 people and told stories similar to Krone’s — stories of incompetent defense attorneys and indifferent judges, of years spent on death row, of coming hours from execution.

Exonerated men from across the country converged on Illinois, the current battleground for a national debate on the death penalty’s failures. They lit 102 candles — one for each inmate who has been exonerated from death row in the United States — and pleaded with outgoing Gov. George Ryan, who wasn’t present, to save others from their ordeal.

The next day, the same men walked 37 miles in a relay, “Dead Man Walking,” from Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Ill., to the state’s James R. Thompson Center in Chicago to deliver a letter to Ryan urging him to “heed the lessons” of their stories.

To Fix a ‘Broken System’

Death penalty reform advocates spoke at the forum, criticizing a “broken system” of justice and encouraging Ryan to continue the moratorium on executions he established in January 2000 by commuting the sentences of 160 men and women on death row in Illinois before he leaves office this month.

“Tremendous strides have been made to alert America and the world of the deep flaws that pervade our justice system,” Lawrence Marshall, legal director for the Center on Wrongful Convictions, told the audience. “They teach us that the system is incompetent to decide who should live and who should die.”

Marshall called Ryan’s decision in 2000 a “brave, heroic act” but said any attempts to reform the system short of blanket commutation would be inadequate.

A commission established by Ryan to investigate Illinois’ death penalty system concluded that many changes to the system were necessary to produce sufficient reform. The Illinois General Assembly currently is debating the changes.

“How could anyone trust a system with that track record and those defects?” Marshall asked.

Although the center advocates a blanket commutation policy — which would convert all capital punishments to sentences of life without parole — Ryan’s advisers have suggested he consider separating the remaining death-row cases into two groups. The first group would contain every case in which Ryan is certain of an inmate’s guilt. Any inmate whose guilt is doubted would be placed in a second group.

“This sorting exercise is doomed to execute innocent people,” Marshall said. “Gov. Ryan, no matter how hard your effort, you will miss some people.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson also spoke, alluding to the candles that sat on the stage when he called the exonerated “a source of bright but flickering hope.” Jackson called for a change in the nation’s political climate in order to continue healing the system.

“The nation’s soul is on trial,” he said. “We don’t need liberals and conservatives. We need liberators.”

Kirk Bloodsworth, who spent nearly nine years in a Maryland prison for the rape and murder of a young girl, said he was angry about the state’s lack of compassion for exonerated inmates.

“This was all created by a prosecutor who wouldn’t admit he was wrong,” said Bloodsworth, the first inmate in the country exonerated based on DNA evidence. “I don’t understand how you can be that glib with a person’s life.”

Commutation ‘on the Back burner’

The next day at 4:30 a.m., the exonerated walked in a relay, “Dead Man Walking,” from Stateville prison in Joliet to the Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph.

During the relay, the former inmates carried a letter — handed off at one-mile intervals — that was presented by Anthony Porter to Dennis Culloton, Ryan’s press secretary.

Porter’s release was initiated in 1998 after a group of Medill undergraduates, working with journalism Prof. David Protess, investigated Porter’s case and refuted a prosecution witness’s testimony. Porter’s case was the catalyst for the moratorium imposed by Ryan in 2000.

Although Culloton said the governor “deeply appreciates the miles walked,” Culloton said discussions Ryan has had in recent months with victims’ families and his advisers could be “an indicator” that Ryan will be less inclined to institute a blanket commutation. Ryan must make a decision before Jan. 20, when Democratic governor-elect Rod Blagojevich will take office. Blagojevich has said he opposes blanket commutation.

In November, Ryan said he was placing the issue “on the back burner” after meeting with the relatives of murder victims, who strongly oppose such reforms. By focusing on the relatives, the exonerated say, the governor is overlooking another group that has been victimized.

“What about us? What about the time we spent?” asked Perry Cobb, who endured five trials for double murder — a U.S. record. “We are victims, too.”

The final event, a showing of “The Exonerated,” a documentary play about six wrongfully convicted prisoners, was held Monday night at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts. Ryan and many of the former prisoners attended the play, which featured Richard Dreyfuss, Jill Clayburgh and Danny Glover.

As the end of Ryan’s term approaches, the most effective tool the exonerated have to persuade him to issue a blanket commutation is their stories. Bloodsworth said he, like other former inmates, considers it his duty to use the past to prevent mistakes in the future.

“I have to speak out against the injustices of this broken system,” Bloodsworth said at the Thompson Center. “In a just system, we should save the guilty to protect the innocent. The land of Lincoln should be no less honorable.”

Joseph Brown was convicted of rape and murder in 1974. His conviction was helped by a jailhouse snitch — who received leniency in exchange for his false testimony — and a prosecutor who knowingly presented false information to the jury. Green spent 12 years on death row in a Florida prison and came within 15 hours of being executed.

“Gov. Ryan, as of this date you have no blood on your hands,” Brown said Sunday. “I implore you to keep (them) clean.”