The Chicago Tribune has dubbed Andrea Lyon “The Angel of Death Row”. Lyon was the first woman to serve as lead attorney in a death penalty case. She is Associate Dean of Clinical Programs at DePaul University’s College of Law, and the author of the book Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer.

She is also the director of the university’s Center for Justice in Capital Cases and supervisor of the Death Penalty Legal Clinic. During her career, Lyon successfully argued to spare the lives of all 19 of her death row clients. Tuesday, she traveled to Springfield to witness the abolition of a practice she’s fought her entire career.

Andrea Lyon joined Eight Forty-Eight to discuss the impact of Governor Quinn’s decision to end the death penalty in Illinois.