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Illinois Governor Spares Death-Row Inmates

Illinois Gov. George Ryan commutes death sentences for all of the state's death-row inmates, calling the state's capital punishment system "arbitrary, capricious and therefore immoral." NPR's Liane Hansen talks with Mimi Wesson of the University of Colorado School of Law.

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Mimi Wesson
Mimi Wesson (known to readers of her novels as Marianne Wesson) is a legal commentator for NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, as well as Professor of Law, Wolf-Nichol Fellow, President’s Teaching Scholar, and Senior Scholar of the Womens Studies Program at the University of Colorado. She has also served as a federal prosecutor, university administrator, and acting law school dean. She is a graduate of Vassar College and the University of Texas Law School.
Liane Hansen
Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.