By CCN: Brian J. Vickers: March 15, 2021
On December 3, 2020, former Illinois Governor George Ryan met with Brian Vickers of CCNEWS Media to discuss his new book entitled ‘Until I Could Be sure.’ During the meeting, Ryan also autograph a copy of his book for IDOC (Illinois Department of Corrections) Inmate-Latasha Pulliam.
In June of 1991, Pulliam was convicted and ‘sentenced to death’ for the molestation, and brutal murder of six-year-old-Shenosha Richards. Pulliam sat on death row for nine-and-a-half-years, as she continued to maintain her innocence. In January of 2003, in one of his final acts as Governor of the state of Illinois, George Ryan commuted the Death Sentence of Latasha Pulliam, and the remaining 166 Inmates on Death Row.
On February 24, 2021, Latasha Pulliam sent Ryan a hand-made-card for his 87th Birthday. Inside Ryan’s Birthday card, Pulliam enclosed a letter, which provided graphic deatails of everything she experienced while on Death Row. Pulliam also mentioned in the letter, her incarceration has taught her “to be her own person;” furthermore, Pulliam has come to realize over the years “human life is very precious, and you only get one.”
Although Pulliam is currently serving a prison term of ‘life-without-parole,’ at Logan Correctional Center, she is hopeful that one day she will be exonerated, and will be able to go home to her daughters and grandchildren. Pulliam also looks forward to one day being able to tell Ryan herself, “thank you Governor Ryan for taking me off Death Row.”
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