In 1996, Illinois Governor Jim Edgar commuted the death sentence of Guin
Garcia to life without
parole, even though Garcia herself had stopped fighting for her life. Garcia would have been the first woman executed in the U.S.
in twelve years. She had been convicted of killing the man who had physically abused her, but she had dropped her
appeals because she said she was done “begging for her life.” Chicago Sun-Times reporter Carol Marin followed Garcia's case after the commutation and recently wrote about the changes in Garcia's life.