"I support the death penalty. But I also think there has to be no margin for error."

"Was I involved in selling drivers licenses to people illegally? Hell no I wasn't. Would I have tolerated it? Hell no."

"Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. What effect was race having? What effect was poverty having?"

"I'm going to sleep well tonight knowing that I made the right decision."

"While I have served in public office for 30 years, my professional training is as a pharmacist, not a lawyer or an accountant."

"I don't know that we do. I had thought ours worked well, but I had never examined it too closely. A lot of media people will be looking for a case that might make Texas Governor George Bush think twice about what he's doing."

"Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death."