Opinion

Extraditing killer would be costly, unneeded

Posted June 09, 2014 5:01 am

I continue to read about Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim's efforts to bring Jorge Torrez back to Illinois for trial to face first-degree murder charges in the deaths of two young girls in Zion.

Torrez has confessed to the killings and all evidence points to his guilt. But Torrez is already on death row in Virginia for another murder. Torrez's crimes are horrific, and he deserves the full punishment of the law. But how do you justify the huge costs of extraditing him from Virginia, putting him on trial for the Zion murders, and then sending him back to death row in Virginia regardless of the outcome?

Why put this added workload on already busy Lake County attorneys? Why put the added cost of a public defender, the judge, the courtroom, the jurors, and the state's attorney's office on an already overtaxed Lake County population?

Mr. Nerheim, please put these funds to better use and let's all be glad Torrez is in prison.

Alan Galant

Grayslake

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