STATE'S ATTORNEYS PLAY MORE GAMES WITH DEATH PENALTY

From your Chicago Tribune:

A Criminal Court judge on Monday took prosecutors to task after they argued for the death penalty in a case where they previously had approved a life sentence in plea talks.

Judge Stuart Palmer raised his voice when he said from the bench that all the facts in the case against Raul Lemus were known in April 2003, when prosecutors told Palmer they would accept a sentence of life in prison if Lemus would plead guilty.

"Not a single fact has changed," Palmer said, adding that state's attorneys told him they felt a life sentence was appropriate."

"And today you don't," he said after prosecutors finished their arguments at a sentencing hearing for Lemus. "We're talking about a man's life here, and it appears to me that the state's position is he deserves the death penalty because he didn't plead guilty fast enough."

Previous capital punishment gamesmanship