Birkett's attempt to rewrite history

In our society, the single most trusted public office which citizens have almost universal faith is our law enforcement community and in particular our professional prosecutors. We want to believe that when a person is indicted for a crime, the prosecutor does so in pursuit of justice with the evidence presented.

I found your recent interview with State's Attorney Joe Birkett attempting to rewrite history to be astounding. Throughout the article, Mr. Birkett attempts to distance himself from the prosecution of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez for the murder of Jeannine Nicarico in the early 1980s.

Whether Mr. Birkett was the lead prosecutor in any of the three trials is irrelevant. He was a member of the prosecutorial staff and had the ethical obligation to bring forth his concerns. How could he stand by and watch two men be convicted of murder and sentenced to death if he thought they were innocent? When Mr. Birkett ran for his first term as state's attorney, not once did he go public with his concerns. When he ran for Illinois Attorney General, again, he did not tell the people of our community his doubts. And, finally, when he ran as a candidate for lieutenant governor, why was his voice not heard? After spending several years on death row, I wonder what Mr. Cruz and Mr. Hernandez think after seeing Mr. Birkett's comment, "I feel terrible about what happened."

Gayle M. Franzen

Wheaton