DeKalb Times

State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) is vowing to re-introduce legislation that would make the death penalty legal for people found guilty of killing police officers.

“This war on police officers must come to an end,” Syverson posted on Facebook shortly after two Illinois officers were fatally wounded in separate incidents within hours of one another. “Without the rule of law you have chaos. The damage done by those leaders pushing their defund police agenda, and putting criminals above law-abiding citizens, is being felt nationwide. We need to stand behind law enforcement that put their lives on the line every day protecting us.”

Wayne County Sheriff Sean Riley died on the morning of Dec. 29, when he was shot while responding to an early-morning motorist assist call on Interstate 64. Police have since charged 40-year-old Ray Tate, who is also accused of taking the officer’s s vehicle, which was later found abandoned on the interstate, 14News reported.

Tate is also suspected of shooting another man in an earlier incident where his vehicle was also stolen.

Not long after that, 49-year-old Bradley Police Department Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic was fatally wounded and her partner Tyler Bailey, 27, was critically wounded while responding to a call of dogs barking in an unattended car in the parking lot at the Comfort Inn off of Route 50. Authorities said the officers went to the hotel room where the car's owner was staying and were attacked when someone opened fire from inside the room.

Over the New Year’s Day holiday weekend, police in Indiana took suspects Darius Sullivan, 25, and Xandria Harris, 26, into custody.

After shooting Bailey in the head, authorities say Sullivan chased Rittmanic down the hall and fired two shots into the officer as she lay on the ground already wounded and pleading for her life.   

The Kankakee County State's Attorney office has already requested that federal prosecutors pursue the death penalty against both Sullivan and Harris, with State’s Attorney Jim Rowe formally filing first-degree murder charges against both.  

“I am also requesting that the United States Attorney file federal murder charges against Darius Sullivan and Xandria Harris and seek a punishment of death,” he posted on Facebook. “There is recent precedent for the United States pursuing the death penalty for the murder of a law enforcement officer (US v. Stephen Wiggins, Middle District of Tennessee, 2018); and precedent for pursuing a federal sentence of death in non-death penalty states (US v. Brent Christensen, Central District of Illinois, 2018). That clear precedent and the nature of the offenses in this case give me hope that our US Attorney will pursue a death sentence in these matters. For our part, we will prosecute Darius Sullivan and Xandria Harris and seek a sentence of life in prison.” 

The last time a law enforcement officer was killed in the line of duty in Kankakee County was in 1996. In 2011, then Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois.