The day after the death penalty was abolished in Illinois in early March, Wendi Liss received a call from one of her clients, who was facing trial for murder and the prospect of being executed if found guilty.
He was calling not to celebrate, but to express concern for her career.
“He said, ‘I know this is what you guys wanted and I know this is good for us, but I don’t want you to be out of a job,’ ” recounted Ms. Liss, one of dozens of employees at the Office of the State Appellate Defender who specialize in death penalty cases.
It was indeed a bittersweet moment — some of the very people who pushed and prayed most fervently to end capital punishment in the state found that the triumph came with a termination notice.
“We’ve done such good work that we’ve put ourselves out of work,” joked Ms. Liss, 37, who spent a decade as a mitigation specialist assembling information to persuade juries to spare the lives of defendants.
Source: The New York Times, April 2, 2011
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