DAVIS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE POSITION ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN CALIFORNIA.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

California activists called Saturday for a renewed debate on capital punishment in the wake of a radical move by the governor of Illinois, but a spokeswoman for Gov. Gray Davis defended the state's legal processes and use of the death penalty here.

Illinois Gov. George Ryan on Saturday commuted all Illinois death sentences to prison terms of life or less. His decision affects the lives of 164 men and three women who have served a collective 2,000 years for the murders of more than 250 people.

Lance Lindsey, executive director of Death Penalty Focus, said the action of the Illinois governor is ``important and exciting news.'' Death Penalty Focus is a California-based organization working to abolish the death penalty across the country.

``We're thrilled with it,'' Lindsey said. ``I believe the Illinois governor's action will provide momentum for change across the country.''

``It helps educate the public about what's wrong with the death penalty,'' he said. ``It shows what political courage can do on behalf of social justice and social change.''

But a spokeswoman for Davis said the two states couldn't be compared, and California is unlikely to change its position on the death penalty.

Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for Davis, noted that Californians consistently have supported candidates who support the death penalty.

``Governor Davis has always supported the death penalty,'' McLean said. ``You really can't compare California's system to Illinois'. We have an automatic appeals process up to the state Supreme Court.''

But Lindsey countered that Davis ``has made it clear that the death penalty is part of some personal agenda for himself.''

Lindsey argued it was wrong to assume the majority of Californians favor the death penalty, saying ``We had a poll here in California a couple of years ago that showed 73 percent of Californians support a moratorium on the death penalty.

``It's a matter of race, place and poverty that often decides who gets selected for the death penalty,'' Lindsey said. ``Many people recognize that the system isn't fair. The moratorium energy across America is bringing people to stop and question the system.''

``We have the same problems that officials have found in Illinois,'' Lindsey said. ``The same problems, the same flaws in the system exist in California. These problems and failures in the system are bound to put innocent people to death in Illinois and in California.''

But McLean said the two states cannot be equated on this issue.

``There has not been a question of guilt in the cases that have been carried out under Governor Davis' watch,'' McLean said.

``Governor Davis has increased funding for Habeas Corpus Resource Center to provide defense for people appealing death penalty convictions,'' she added. ``Some of the top lawyers in California and the nation have represented the death penalty defendants in California.''

Ed Rucker, a Los Angeles defense attorney who has represented 10 people in death penalty cases in his 35-year-career, praised the Illinois governor's actions.

``Hopefully, it will (start) an informed debate, because this is a system that badly needs reform,'' Rucker said.

``To have a system that is so demeaning to us as a nation, to resort to this level of almost barbarism, serves no purpose,'' Rucker said. ``The death penalty unquestionably is applied unevenly, even randomly. There's a great disparity in the resources and legal ability of the lawyers that are assigned to defend these cases, and consequently, there is a real possibility that we will execute totally innocent people.''

There are currently 603 men and 14 women on Death Row in California, said Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections.

Tom Hayden, a liberal activist and former state senator, also backed the action in Illinois, saying California should follow its lead - or at least enact a moratorium until death penalty procedures can be reviewed.

``The system we have is unfair,'' Hayden said. ``I think we need to look at whether Death Row defendants are accorded the legal resources that they deserve in such a serious matter.''

More than 10 boards of supervisors and city councils in California have passed resolutions calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, Lindsey said. The Los Angeles City Council in November 2002 called on the governor to set up a commission to study the issue.

Californians for a Moratorium on Executions (CME), a volunteer coalition, has collected more than 120,000 signatures.

Legislation authorizing executions in California was passed in 1851, a year after the state was formed.

A total of 194 people were executed up to 1967; in 1972, the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment.

Opposition to the death penalty was largely responsible for voters ousting Rose Bird, former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, and two other justices in the 1980s.

The Legislature re-enacted the death penalty in 1977, but the state didn't resume executions until 1992.

Since that time, nine people have been executed.

Staff Writers Rachel Uranga and Nicholas Grudin contributed to this report.