Portal:Current events/2003 January 11

January 11, 2003 (Saturday)

George H. Ryan, Governor of Illinois, announced that he commuted the sentences of all 157 people on the state of Illinois' Death Row to life in prison. "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. What effect was race having? What effect was poverty having? Because of all these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates", Ryan said. Ryan's term of office expires on January 13.
A U.S. court ordered the controversial organization Clonaid, which claims that it produced a human clone, to reveal the identity and whereabouts of the alleged cloned baby.
Idina Menzel married fellow broadway actor and Rent (musical) costar, Taye Diggs.