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The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law will shine a bright light on wrongful convictions Dec. 15 and 16 with the largest gathering ever of exonerated death row prisoners, a relay walk by some of the exonerated across Illinois and a special performance of "The Exonerated," a highly acclaimed play that will premiere in Chicago.

The events are intended to call public attention to flaws in the capital punishment system -- false confessions, lying jailhouse snitches, erroneous eyewitness testimony, incompetent lawyers -- as Gov. George H. Ryan faces a momentous decision on whether to commute all current death sentences to life in prison without parole, according to Professor Lawrence C. Marshall, legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

The "National Gathering of the Death Row Exonerated" will open with an assembly of innocent former prisoners from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at the School of Law's Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago Ave. The assembly is free and open to the public, but it is advisable to reserve space to guarantee seating. (For reservations or more information: 312 503-2391 or www.centeronwrongfulconvictions.org)

Beginning before daybreak Monday, Dec. 16, a number of the exonerated will participate in a "Dead Men Walking" relay from Stateville Penitentiary near Joliet, site of the Illinois execution chamber, to the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. There a letter will be delivered to Gov. Ryan urging him to commute all death sentences to life in prison without parole. The letter will be passed from one exonerated person to the next at one-mile intervals along the 40-mile route.

Monday evening, "The Exonerated" will feature, Richard Dreyfus, among others. The "intense and affecting documentary play is an artfully edited anthology of interviews with six former death row prisoners who were all discovered to be innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted," according to The New York Times. The audience will include a number of former death row prisoners, including the six featured in the play, as well as judges, legislators, and others concerned with wrongful convictions. (NOTE: THE PLAY IS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.)

Flaws in the capital punishment system have led to wrongful convictions and death sentences in 102 cases nationally, including 13 in Illinois. It is expected that between 40 and 50 of the exonerated will attend the gathering, according to Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

The center is an outgrowth of the National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty that Marshall and others convened at Northwestern School of Law in November 1998. The conference sensitized the public as never before to the alarming number of innocent persons who have been sentenced to death in the United States.

The 13 Illinois exonerations prompted Gov. Ryan to declare a moratorium on executions and appoint a blue-ribbon commission to study the problem and recommend reforms. The commission recommended 85 reform measures, which currently are being debated by the Illinois General Assembly.

Before Gov. Ryan leaves office on Jan. 13, he will decide on clemency petitions brought in the cases of 160 men and women currently under death sentence in Illinois.

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