State Senator Moves To Reinstate Death Penalty

Dave Dahl -- Illinois Radio Network

It's been more than four years since Illinois abolished capital punishment. Now there's another voice to bring it back.

State Sen. Bill Haine (D-Alton) says he is going to file a bill to reinstate the death penalty for those who kill a police officer or who commit multiple murders. This is despite the state's troubled history with the death penalty/

“I believe we've learned from our mistakes,” Haine says. “When I was state's attorney in Madison County, we had a number capital crimes, and none of them was a wrongful conviction.”

The past year's deaths of police officers and crimes such as the Charleston, S.C., church massacre, Haine says, is an outrage.

Haine says he will file his bill when the Senate returns to Springfield in October.