On January 11, 2003, Governor George Ryan issued a blanket commutation giving life sentences to the 167 the people on Illinois’s death row and pardoning four inmates. In his speech at Northwestern University College of Law, Ryan recognized the work of Paul Ciolino, David Protess, and the School of Journalism in Anthony Porter's case for shedding light on the "sorrowful condition of Illinois's death penalty system." Later in his speech, he commented:
I never intended to be an activist on this issue. I watched in surprise as freed death row inmate Anthony Porter was released from jail. A free man, he ran into the arms of Northwestern University Professor Dave Protess who poured his heart and soul into proving Porter's innocence with his journalism students. He was 48 hours away from being wheeled into the execution chamber where the state would kill him. It would all be so antiseptic and most of us would not have even paused, except that Anthony Porter was innocent of the double murder for which he had been condemned to die.[/b][/i]