Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich amended the death penalty reform bill passed by the Illinois legislature by vetoing one provision--one that lowered the standards for proving perjury against individual police officers.

As a result of his partial veto, the whole bill will return to the legislature in the fall. The bill is expected to be repassed then, with or without the police perjury provision.

With regard to the perjury provision, one lawyer just wrote us:

Personally, I would like to know what standard of proof was called for in the bill. I wonder if this was a legitimate concern by the Governor, or if he was just looking for excuses or playing to police lobbyist. It seems to me that any police officer that would give false testimony during such an important trial ought not be a police officer.

But, we praise the Governor for his signing another bill two weeks ago that mandates videotaping of interrogations. And for his refusal to lift the moratorium on Illinois executions despite the reform bills.