Tag Archives: death penalty

November 15, 2011 · 9:38 pm

Protesting at the margins

I grieve for Alyssa Maria Vasquez. I grieve for her mother, Diana Berlanga. I grieve for all who mourn for Alyssa. At age seven, in 1999, she was raped and strangled. The crime fills me with revulsion. Children are gifts entrusted to us from God to be cared for well. Such a violation is utterly appalling. Utterly appalling.

Guadalupe Esparza was convicted of this atrocity. According to reports on mysanantonio.com, DNA results indicate his guilt. They further report that a recent DNA test confirmed the earlier test. The State of Texas has scheduled Esparaza’s execution for tomorrow.

I have no sympathy for Esparza. I find it hard even to acknowledge that I grieve for him.

And yet – and yet – I believe the death penalty is wrong. It dehumanizes our society. Repaying violence with violence does not get us anywhere; killing to demonstrate that killing is wrong makes no sense to me. It cuts off any possibility for reform or restoration.

My opposition is to the state killing. It does not depend – it cannot depend on the individual subject to execution. It is at the margins that we are tested.It is at the margins we must protest.

I cannot affirm that “I am Troy Davis” unless I am willing to affirm that “I am Guadalupe Esparza” as much as I recoil from that idea. I cannot protest high-profile cases involving individuals with redeeming qualities and questions of innocence unless I am willing to protest cases involving unsympathetic individuals and little doubt of guilt.

So I have written to Governor Parry and to the Texas Board of Paroles.

This would mark the 42nd execution this year and the 7th since the execution of Troy Davis.

See you along the Trail.

 

 

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November 14, 2011 · 6:00 pm

Execution scheduled in Florida

I grieve today for Joan “Jo” Rogers, 36, and her daughters Michelle, 17, and Christe, 14. They were visiting Tampa Bay from Ohio in 1989, when they were murdered. It was a horrific crime. They were bound, tied to concrete blocks and thrown into the water. Reports indicate that they were probably alive when they entered the water. The horror of watching the violation of your children – watching the violation of your mother – numbs my mind and makes my skin crawl. I grieve for Hal Rogers, husband and father, and all who loved the three women.

The State of Florida is scheduled to execute Oba Chandler for this crime today. It may have happened. It was scheduled for 4:00. I have not been able to find news stories to confirm that. Chandler was convicted in 1994. Chandler says he is innocent; appeals have been filed, and denied.

Heinous. Brutal. Reprehensible. These are the words that come to mind pondering this crime.

But – the state killing people to prove that killing people does not make sense. It reinforces the idea that violence is an acceptable response. It brutalizes our society. There are alternatives. We can protect ourselves by keeping people imprisoned.

See you along the Trail.

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November 14, 2011 · 5:16 pm

The only way? Execution scheduled in Ohio

The State of Ohio plans to execute Reginald Brooks tonight. He stands convicted of shooting his three sons while they slept. The crime occurred in 1982.

No questions seem to appear about his guilt. There is some argument about his mental competency. Prosecutors argue that his mental illness did not cause the murders nor does it make him incompetent. From an MSNBC report:

They say he planned merciless killings, bought a revolver two weeks in advance, confirmed he’d be home alone with the boys, targeted them when they wouldn’t resist and fled on a bus with a suitcase containing a birth certificate and personal items that could help him start a new life.

I grieve for his three sons: 17-year-old Reginald Jr., 15-year-old Vaughn, and 11-year-old Niarchos. I grieve for the potential that was lost when they were murdered. I grieve for their mother, Beverly Brooks, and all who loved them.

This is a horrible crime.

And yet I wonder – does killing someone to prove that killing someone is wrong really work? Is this the only way?

See you along the trail.

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November 8, 2011 · 11:36 pm

Four executions scheduled in next ten days

Until recently the next ten days were scheduled to bring five executions. One has been stayed. Four more loom.

November 15 – Reginald Brooks in Ohio (includes a petition)

November 15 – Oba Chandler in Florida

November 16 – Guadalupe Esparza in Texas

November 18 – Paul Ezra Rhoades in Idaho

More details will follow as I find them.

See you along the Trail.

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November 8, 2011 · 10:58 pm

Not knowing – knowing

A Texas court has stayed the execution of convicted murderer Henry “Hank” Skinner.

I do not know if he is guilty or innocent.

I know that he deserves every opportunity to prove his innocence – including DNA tests.

I do not know what that test will show.

I know that the murders of Twila Busby, Randy Busby, and Elwin Caler were horrific crimes, terrible violations.

I know that I grieve for them and all who love them.

I know that executing Hank Skinner will not bring them back, will not restore community; it will deny any possibility of rehabilitation for Skinner; it will be an act of violence that degrades our society.

See you along the Trail.

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November 5, 2011 · 7:57 pm

Why won’t Texas perform a DNA test?

DNA tests have exonerated a number of individuals “convicted” of crimes in recent years.

In Texas, Hank Skinner has asked for a test of DNA evidence that he believes will prove his innocence. So far, his request has been denied.

Now time is running out. On Wednesday, Texas will execute Hank Skinner.

Skinner was convicted in 1995 of the murders of Twila Busby, and her two sons – Randy Busby and Elwin Caler.

Questions have been raised about Skinner’s guilt.

A larger question looms: Why won’t Texas perform the DNA testing?

Individuals can join former judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers, along with current and former elected officials who have called Texas state officials  not to execute Skinner until that DNA testing can be performed.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty offers the opportunity to sign a petition.

I do not believe the state (any state) should execute individuals. I will continue to call for the abolition of the death penalty. But, I have signed the petition because I also believe that, if there are going to be executions, there should be as much certainty about their guilt as possible.

I pray for Hank Skinner and all who hold his fate.

I pray for Twila Busby, Randy Busby, and Elwin Caler and all who love them.

See you along the Trail.

 

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October 27, 2011 · 2:30 am

Execution scheduled in Texas

I grieve for police officer Hector Garza, for Jessica Garcia, and for all who love them. They were killed more than a decade ago. Officer Garza was responding to a domestic dispute.

Frank Garcia, Jessica’s husband, was convicted of the murders. The State of Texas will execute Frank Garcia today unless a last-minute appeal proves successful. Reports say that Frank Garcia abused Jessica and she was attempting to leave him when the murders occurred. They also suggest that he was a gang member.

The appeal, according to published reports on the San Antonio Express Web page, raise the question of Garcia’s mental capacities.

Little or no doubt. A history of abuse. The murder of a wife. The murder of a police officer acting in the line of duty. Tragic, horrific realities.

Still I wonder. Beyond revenge, what will be served by Frank Garcia’s execution. Texas’ use of  the death penalty  did not deter him. Why do we think it would deter anyone else? It will not bring back Hector Garza. It will not bring back Jessica Garcia. It will remove any possibility, however slim, of Garcia’s rehabilitation. It will send the message that violence is the right response to violence. It will exact an eye for an eye and lead our society further down the road of brutality.

I pray for Frank Garcia. I pray for Jessica Garcia and Hector Garza and those who love them. I pray for our country.

See you along the Trail.

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October 20, 2011 · 10:20 pm

That grieves me, too

I grieve for Elias Ocean Johnson whose young life ended far too soon – almost before it began – and far too brutally. I tremble as I seek to imagine what his last moments were like – what his few months were like.

I grieve for Dana Johnson, his mother and all who loved Elias.

I grieve for Christopher T. Johnson who reportedly testified to, and was convicted of, killing Elias. Alabama executed Johnson this evening.

I grieve for the prison personnel called upon to take Johnson’s life; I grieve for those who love them.

Johnson did not want anyone to block his execution and he filed no appeals. What he said he did appalls me and offends me. The cruel, violent act that took the life of baby Elias also violated and brutalized our society.

Yet, in my grief, I also believe that by taking Johnson’s life, the state – our society – has also been wounded and diminished. Our willingness to take a life for a life appears an act of vengeance – not of justice – not of restoration – not of seeking some new possibility out of an act of evil.

I do not know what should happen to those who kill our sisters and brothers, however old, however young. That grieves me, too. But I am sure that capital punishment is not the answer.

See you along the Trail.

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October 18, 2011 · 11:32 pm

I wonder

Alabama will, in all likelihood, execute Christopher T. Johnson on October 20. Johnson has been convicted of a heinous crime – the murder of his son – a six-month old child. My heart breaks for Elias Ocean Johnson and those who love him. Johnson does not deny the crime – published reports indicate that he has admitted that he committed the crime.

Writers describe Johnson as a “volunteer.” He acted as his own attorney and has rejected appeals.

Yet even under these circumstances, I wonder:

What do we gain by Johnson’s execution?

How does it benefit Elias? Or protect other babies from abuse?

Does an execution – any execution – not demean and degrade the State and all of us? What does it say about us? What does it do to our soul?

Does imposing the death penalty – under these circumstances, under any circumstances – not brutalize our society? Is it not an act of vengeance – a denial of the possibility of repentance and renewal?

Does Johnson’s willingness to be executed absolve the state or change the reality of the death penalty?

I wonder . . . but I still oppose this and all executions.

See you along the Trail.

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October 12, 2011 · 10:47 pm

Who wants to be humane, anyhow?

A Florida state representative wants to eliminate the use of lethal injections as the means of state-sponsored executions. He doesn’t want to do so because he is opposed to the death penalty. Quite the contrary.

His argument seems to be that lethal injections are too sensitive – too humane. He wants to replace lethal injections with the electric chair. And he proposes providing the option of a firing squad.

He only moves in that direction because his preferred method of execution does not appear feasible: “If it were up to me we would just throw them off the Sunshine Skyway bridge and be done with it,” Drake said in an article posted by the Florida Current.

“I am so tired of being humane to inhumane people,” he is quoted as saying.

By all means! Who wants to be humane, anyhow?

Of course, if we stop acting in a humane fashion, what does that make us?

See you along the Trail.

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