[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., VA., FLA., OHIO, NEB., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 18



PENNSYLVANIA:

Jury seated for Easton death-penalty trial


After more than a week of jury selection, the death-penalty trial of a 
Riegelsville man accused of murdering another man inside a downtown Easton 
hotel room will begin Wednesday morning with opening statements.

It took the individual questioning of 130 potential jurors, but on Tuesday 
evening, Northampton County prosecutors and Jeffrey S. Knoble Jr.'s lead 
defense lawyer reached agreement on the last of the 12 jurors and 4 alternates 
who will preside over his fate.

Knoble, 27, is accused of murdering a man nearly 2 years ago, then recording 
cellphone video of the corpse. With prosecutors seeking a death sentence, jury 
selection was a lengthy process, since would-be panelists had to be questioned 
1-by-1 over their views of capital punishment and their ability to be 
impartial.

Knoble is charged with homicide, robbery and firearms offenses in the March 11, 
2015, shooting of Andrew "Beep" White, 32, of Easton at the former Quality Inn 
on South Third Street. Authorities have called White a good Samaritan who had 
rented a room for Knoble that night because he had no place to stay.

Knoble was arrested the day of the shooting, after his mother called police 
after her son showed her a video of a dead man he claimed to have shot, 
according to prior testimony. Police later discovered White's body with a 
bullet wound at the hotel.

Knoble's trial has been delayed several times. In the months leading up to it, 
he has often proved disruptive in court, with outbursts that included mocking 
White's family and swearing at Judge Emil Giordano.

His court-appointed defense team, Gavin Holihan and Matthew Deschler, are the 
second set of lawyers Knoble has had. In September, his public defenders were 
permitted to withdraw from his case, after he repeatedly clashed with them.

(source: The Morning Call)






VIRGINIA----impending execution

Virginia inmate facing execution argues against drug 'cocktail'


A Virginia inmate set to be executed on Wednesday for murdering 2 young sisters 
during a 2006 killing spree has asked the Supreme Court for a stay, arguing 
that the 1st-ever use of compounded lethal drugs violates his constitutional 
rights.

Ricky Gray, 39, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday evening at 
the Greensville Correctional Center if the U.S. high court turns down his bid 
for a stay.

Gray's lawyers filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, 
saying that the 3-drug combination could cause Gray unnecessary suffering and 
thereby violate constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment.

The execution would mark the 1st time a U.S. state has used 2 of the drugs - 
midazolam and potassium chloride - provided by a compounding pharmacy, 
according to the court filing.

Gray's lawyers argue that compounding pharmacies typically follow an informal 
recipe attempting to approximate the patented process approved by the U.S. Food 
and Drug Administration.

Midazolam is an anesthetic and potassium chloride stops the heart. The 3rd drug 
in the so-called cocktail, rocuronium bromide, causes paralysis

Gray's attorneys say that midazolam has already failed to render prisoners 
unconscious during executions in Alabama, Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have stopped making some drugs available for use 
in executions, and Virginia state law allows the vendor's identity to remain 
secret.

Arizona last month reached a settlement with lawyers for death row inmates that 
would bar midazolam from use in executions.

Gray was sentenced to die for the 2006 slayings of sisters Ruby Harvey, 4, and 
Stella Harvey, 9, in Richmond. He also killed their parents, Bryan Harvey, 49, 
and Kathryn Harvey, 39.

His accomplice, Ray Dandridge, was sentenced to life. The pair also killed 
Ashley Baskerville, 21, who had been a lookout when Gray killed the Harveys as 
well as her mother, Mary Tucker, 47, and stepfather Percyell Tucker, 55.

Gray has said he is willing to die by firing squad, which is not an option for 
executions in Virginia.

If carried out, the execution will be second in the United States this year. 
The United States has executed 1,453 people since the Supreme Court reinstated 
the death penalty in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

(source: One America News Network)

*****************

Gray Execution: Last Stop, Supreme Court


A Virginia inmate scheduled to be put to death this week for the slayings of 
two young girls has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution.

Ricky Gray filed an emergency appeal with the high court on Tuesday. Gray is 
scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the slayings of 9-year-old Stella Harvey 
and her 4-year-old sister Ruby. Gray was convicted of killing the girls and 
their parents at their home on New Year's Day 2006.

Gray is challenging the state's plans to use lethal injection drugs from a 
secret compounding pharmacy. A federal court in Richmond and the 4th U.S. 
Circuit Court of Appeals have rejected Gray's efforts to put his execution on 
hold so that he can bring his legal challenge.

Gray says the use of compounded midazolam will cause him a cruel and painful 
death.

(source: Associated Press)

*******************************

The view from a cell near death row


"Most of us would rather die."

I had to ask John to repeat that because I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly. 
An ongoing case of tinnitus and the poor quality of phone service in the 
Virginia prison system mean I don't hear everything as well as I once did. John 
repeated what he had just said. "Seriously, Jimmy, most of the people I've 
talked to about this would rather get the death penalty than spend the rest of 
our lives in here."

For my stepson John, "here" is Greensville Correctional Center in Jarrett, in a 
cellblock next to the one that houses Ricky Gray, the inmate scheduled to be 
put to death today for the heinous 2005 murders of a family in Richmond. As you 
might imagine, John and his fellow inmates have a different perspective than 
most and virtually a front row seat to the what he described as a "circus." 
It's far and away a different description from the mundane routine of prison 
life John has described to me over the years.

John was rather adamant about his point of view. He is scheduled for release in 
July 2020. No matter what happens, he has that date to look forward to.

"It seems like a long way off, but I remember when I first arrived here and I 
know I'm closer to getting out than I was then, but I can't imagine how awful 
it would be, being where I am now with no hope of ever getting out."

Several other inmates, John said, would rather face a date with the executioner 
than the possibility of growing old inside a prison. With a life sentence, 
there's also the punishment of being forgotten.

When John was sentenced back in 2012, he boasted that his friends would "be 
there" for him, claiming that they'd keep in touch, would write and visit him 
often. Sadly, for John and many prisoners like him, this just doesn't hold 
true.

Once-close friends and even family members go on with their lives. For many of 
the so-called friends, the idea of sitting down and writing a letter or taking 
an entire day out of their busy lives to go through the process of visiting an 
inmate in a state prison becomes easier to excuse than it is to do.

Eventually, the letters stop coming, the visits become rare, then never happen 
and money is almost never sent. If an offender hasn't entirely alienated them, 
the day eventually comes when family is almost all that is left to the 
offender.

The only ones who can't ever forget are the loved ones of the victims and the 
offenders, their lives continually upended by the crime and its aftermath.

Then there's this paradox: Yes, Ricky Gray committed unspeakable crimes and his 
own choices brought him to where he is today. Gray deserves punishment. Just as 
no one wants their family or loved one to ever be the victim of violent crime, 
it is safe to assume that no one ever wants a family member or loved one to 
perpetrate a violent crime.

For both the families and loved ones of the victims as well as the offender, it 
is an unenviable emotional rollercoaster. One side demands justice, the other 
side seeks mercy. Our legal system stands between them and must render a 
decision that won't please everyone.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Lady Justice wears a blindfold; she just 
doesn't want to see the mess people make of not only of their victim's lives, 
but their own, as well, and the the lives of others who care about them.

I know exactly how she feels; the problem is, neither of us can turn away.

(source: Guest Column, Jimmy Frost----The Virginian-Pilot)






FLORIDA:

Markeith Loyd could face death penalty, legal experts say


The search for an accused police killed ended after 9 long days but the road to 
justice is far from finished, legal experts say.

Orlando, Orange County, state and federal law enforcement officers captured 
Markeith Loyd, 41, Tuesday evening at an abandoned house 5-minutes from where 
police said the suspect gunned down Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton at Walmart 
on Jan. 9.

Clayton was attempting to contact Loyd at the John Young Parkway store because 
he was wanted on a warrant for the Dec. 13 shooting death of his former 
pregnant girlfriend.

Loyd will likely have a 1st appearance in Orange County on Wednesday where his 
bail will definitely be denied, News 6 legal expert Steven Kramer said.

"He will be kept in isolation in jail," Kramer said. "He has nothing to lose."

Loyd was held up in an abandoned Orlando house with 2 firearms, 1 with a 
100-round drum attached, and was wearing body armor, according to Orlando 
police.

The man Crimeline offered a $100,000 reward for faces a slew of charges which 
could result in a death sentence, Kramer said.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said deputies will serve warrants Tuesday 
night to charge Loyd with 2 1st-degree murder charges and 2 counts of 
aggravated assault with a firearm for the shooting death of his former 
girlfriend, 24-year-old Sade Dixon and her unborn child.

Loyd is also charged with 1 count of attempted homicide for allegedly shooting 
Dixon's brother, Demings said.

Orlando police have not yet announced the charges related to Clayton's death.

1st-degree murder of a law enforcement officer is punishable by death or life 
in prison without parole.

Kramer said it is unclear whether Loyd will also be charged with felony murder 
for Deputy First Class Norman Lewis, who was fatally struck while on his 
motorcycle attempting to aid in the search for Loyd.

Orlando police Chief John Mina said after Loyd's capture that more arrests are 
coming for people who aided and abetted Loyd on his run from the law.

Loyd's former boss, his niece and an ex-girlfriend were arrested this week and 
charged with helping Loyd avoid capture.

The property where Loyd was captured is tied to some of his known associates, 
Mina said.

As for a trial, it won't happen anytime soon, Kramer said. It could be months 
before all the evidence and witnesses are processed.

The prosecutor who is assigned to the case will be "a skilled pro who knows 
what they are doing with death cases," Kramer said.

Unless Loyd hires another defense lawyer, he will receive a public defender.

Loyd will be tried at the downtown Orange County Courthouse. Both Orlando and 
Orange County are in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court.

(source: clickorlando.com)






OHIO:

Northern Ohio bishop asks governor to end death penalty


The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo is calling on Ohio Gov. John 
Kasich to end the death penalty in the state.

The request comes as Ohio takes steps to carry out an execution in January that 
would be the state's 1st in 3 years.

Bishop Daniel Thomas has sent a letter to the Republican governor saying the 
Catholic faith opposes the death and affirms the sacredness of all life.

Thomas says there will be a candlelight prayer vigil next month for abolishing 
the death penalty.

The Toledo diocese serves 320,000 Catholics in 19 counties across northern 
Ohio.

(source: WHIO news)






NEBRASKA:

Chambers submits new bill to repeal Nebraska's death penalty


A Nebraska senator who opposes the death penalty is once again trying to 
abolish the punishment even though voters reinstated it last year.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha introduced the repeal bill on Tuesday. Chambers 
has tried to outlaw the punishment for roughly 4 decades.

Lawmakers voted to abolish the punishment in 2015 over Gov. Pete Ricketts' 
veto, but the law never went into effect. A group partially financed by 
Ricketts responded with a petition drive that suspended the law until voters 
decided whether to keep it.

In November, 61 % of voters who cast a ballot on the issue chose to overturn 
the Legislature's decision.

(source: KETV news)

***********************

Lotter challenging Nebraska 3-judge method on death penalty


A man convicted in the murder case that inspired the 1999 movie "Boys Don't 
Cry" has joined a fellow death-row inmate in challenging Nebraska's three-judge 
method for determining death sentences.

Attorneys for John Lotter argue that he had a right to have jurors, not judges, 
weigh his fate when he was sentenced to death in 1996. The attorneys cite a 
U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down Florida's death-penalty 
process, saying it gave too much power to judges to make the ultimate decision. 
After that ruling, Delaware's high court followed suit and threw out that 
state's death penalty-determining method.

Lotter was condemned for his role in the 1993 killings of Brandon Teena and 2 
witnesses, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine, at a rural Humboldt farmhouse.

A similar appeal has been filed on behalf of Jeffrey Hessler, convicted in the 
2003 rape and murder of 15-year-old Gering newspaper carrier Heather Guerrero.

The Nebraska attorney general's office has filed motions arguing that 
Nebraska's sentencing scheme allows jury participation and is not identical to 
the one struck down in Florida.

In Nebraska, when a defendant is convicted in a death penalty case, the jury 
that decided guilt also decides whether aggravating factors exist to justify 
the defendant's execution. If the jury finds such, a three-judge panel is 
convened to determine whether the aggravating factors outweigh any mitigating 
factors in the defendant's favor. The 3 judges also must determine if the death 
sentence is warranted and, if so, whether it is proportionate to the penalty 
imposed in similar cases.

The 3 judges ultimately determine whether the defendant gets death or life in 
prison.

Attorney Jerry Soucie, who has represented several Nebraska death-row inmates, 
said Friday that he expects the state's other 8 death-row inmates to challenge 
Nebraska's method, too.

"This issue has been floating around a long time," Soucie said.

(source: Associated Press)






WASHINGTON:

Area lawmakers react to proposed death penalty bill


The death penalty could be headed to the grave since Washington State Attorney 
General Bob Ferguson, along with former AG Rob McKenna, proposed bipartisan 
legislation to abolish it in Washington on Monday afternoon.

Instead the sentence would be life in prison without the possibility of parole.

McKenna says the death penalty costs taxpayers millions of dollars and often 
takes up to 20 years to happen because of delays for appeals.

It's a view shared by the Republican Rep. Terry Nealey: "The steps, the immense 
and extended time, and the incredible expense and resources it takes to impose 
and uphold this most severe form of punishment have made the death penalty 
nearly impossible to carry out. In recent years, even in the most heinous 
crimes, jurors have failed to impose the death penalty."

Republican Sen. Maureen Walsh is also for the bill: "It's the fiscal 
conservative in me that says we're spending a lot of money in an appeals 
process that's again, somewhat of a broken system."

But not all law makers agree with the proposal.

Republican Rep. Brad Klippert says he would totally and completely oppose 
abolishment of the death penaly, citing his background in law enforcement as to 
why he's against the proposal.

"I have seen people take other's people's lives in astounding ways horrific 
ways and I think we should always leave capital punishment, the death penalty 
as one of our options."

Republican Rep. Larry Haler echoed the position.

"Knowing that if you're going to commit a heinous crime a murder, you will get 
the death penalty. To me that is something that is a vital part of our criminal 
system and should remain."

The bill is expected to go to the Senate Law and Justice Committee and the 
House Judiciary Committee.

The Attorney General's office says the bill's prime sponsors are gathering 
signatures at this time.

It is expected to be formally introduced later this week.

Action News also reached out to the prosecutor offices of both Benton and 
Franklin counties about the proposal, but never heard back.

In February of 2014, Gov. Jay Inslee imposed a moratorium on executions in 
Washington state.

(source: KEPR TV news)

*****************

State's death penalty too costly, not applied fairly


The particular reasons they cite may differ, but the desired outcome is the 
same: an end to the death penalty in Washington state.

Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, both Democrats, requested 
legislation to abolish capital punishment, codifying the moratorium that Inslee 
imposed in 2014, which he then invoked last month when he issued a reprieve to 
Clark Elmore, sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl 
in Whatcom County in 1995.

The Democrats, including two senators and a House member, were joined at a 
Monday news conference by prominent Republicans in seeking the legislation: 
former Attorney General Rob Mc-Kenna, who ran against Inslee in 2012, and Sens. 
Maureen Walsh of Walla Walla and Mark Miloscia of Federal Way.

In supporting the repeal of the death penalty, Inslee faulted capital 
punishment for being unevenly applied, frequently overturned and costly. 
McKenna said that the appeals process is so lengthy, "this is a system in which 
justice is delayed and delayed to the point where the system is broken," the 
Associated Press reported. That's a sentiment that was echoed by Walsh in a 
story by The Spokesman-Review: "It's the fiscal conservative in me that says 
we're spending a lot of money on what's basically a broken system," Walsh said.

The case against capital punishment has been building since the passage of the 
current law in 1981.

A 2006 report by the Washington State Bar Association, found that in the 79 
death penalty cases brought between 1981 and 2006, the jury imposed the death 
sentence in 30 cases. Of those, 19 were reversed on appeal and 7 had appeals 
pending at the time. 4 cases resulted in executions, 3 of which involved 
defendants who waived their right to appeal.

The bar association report also found that during the initial trial and on 
direct appeal, the costs to prosecution and defense in death penalty cases were 
more than $750,000 more costly than non-capital punishment cases, costs that 
didn't include potential subsequent appeals to the state Supreme Court, the 
federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

A 2015 study by Seattle University, reported by the Death Penalty Information 
Center, found that costs of prosecuting death penalty cases are now more than 
$1 million more on average than those where the death penalty is not sought. 
Defense costs were about three times as high for death penalty cases compared 
to cases were execution was not sought.

Beyond the cost savings, the bar association report found that an end to the 
death penalty would allow county prosecutor's offices, public defenders and the 
courts to redirect time and resources to other cases.

The 2006 bar association report was limited in scope to the costs associated 
with the death penalty, but it pointed to other issues worth the consideration 
of the public and state lawmakers.

The report notes the debate about whether the death penalty is applied fairly 
to racial and ethnic minorities, citing 2 studies that came to different 
conclusions. One study cited a 1995 state Supreme Court case that found that a 
review of 1st-degree aggravated murder cases found no racial pattern in the 
imposition of capital punishment. But a 2004 study cited statistics that showed 
that 18 % of death penalty defendants were black while comprising only 3 % of 
the population. By comparison, 67 % of death penalty defendants were whites, 
but comprised 82 % of the population.

The bar association report also touches on the issue of fair application of the 
death penalty, comparing how it has been applied to some of the state's most 
heinous mass murderers, among them the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgeway, who 
was responsible for at least 48 murders but was sentenced to life in prison.

The state Supreme Court, in a 2006 case where a defendant had killed his wife 
and her 2 daughters, found in a 5-4 decision that the state's use of the death 
penalty was not unconstitutional, regardless of the sentence allowed Ridgeway 
and others. But Justice Charles Johnson, in a dissenting opinion, compared the 
state's use of the death penalty to lightning, "randomly striking some some 
defendants and not others. ... No rational explanation exists to explain why 
some individuals escape the penalty of death and others do not."

The court's majority carried the day, but in its opinion noted: "We do not 
minimize the importance of this moral question. But it is a question best left 
to the people and to their elected representatives."

With respected Democrats and Republicans calling for an end to capital 
punishment - and no lack of relevant information - it's time to take up that 
question.

(source: Editorial, The Herald)






USA:

18 Arrested at Anti-Death Penalty Protest


On a wet January day - as the nation's capital preps for Inauguration Day and 
the Women's March on Washington - more than 80 anti-death penalty protesters 
sang, prayed, and chanted on the steps of the U.S Supreme Court. 18 were 
arrested for nonviolently proclaiming their beliefs.

The protestors held a large white banner with the words "Stop Executions" 
written on it as they stood on the highest steps on the Supreme Court building 
- forbidden to protestors.

Protestors on the lower steps held flowers and large red placards with the 
names of executed individuals on them.

"We are standing with families who have had their loved ones murdered and 
families who have had their loved ones executed or put on death row," said 
activist Shane Claiborne, who was arrested during the protest.

"Violence is a disease not the cure," he continued. "As families themselves 
say, remember our loved ones but not with more killing. That's our message 
today."

This protest brought together leaders from faith-based civil rights 
organizations including Sojourners, supporters of the cause, and people 
directly affected by the Supreme Court???s death penalty decisions.

1st-time death penalty protestor Don McCraw of Baltimore said he remembers 
being conflicted about death penalty.

"I didn't really think at first that I had an opinion about it," McCraw said, 
adding it was mostly due to his own ignorance about how the American government 
deals with people on death row.

"For me to have knowledge, I need to hear stories about people who have reasons 
to want the death penalty and still don't support it."

Stories like Bill Pelke's.

Death penalty issues are deeply personal for Pelke, co-founder of Journey of 
Hope, an organizing partner of the rally. His grandmother was brutally murdered 
by a 15-year-old girl who was later sentenced to death for the murder.

"Originally I supported that decision, but I became convinced beyond a shadow 
of a doubt that my grandmother would have been appalled," Pelke said. "I was 
convinced that she would have had love and compassion for this girl and for her 
family."

Pelke began working in justice and peace amid his own complex healing process. 
He began to understand how terribly the death penalty affects both the murder 
victim???s family as well as the people who commit the crime.

"The death penalty has nothing to do with the healing of the victim's family," 
Pelke said. "It continues the cycle of violence."

Tevyn East, a participant from Pennsylvania, said she believes her faith binds 
her to her beliefs about executions.

"Jesus died because of a state-sanctioned violence, so I see it as a faith 
issue," she said. "I believe it's in our best interest to turn towards more 
restorative justice."

This rally was organized by a group called Abolition Action Committee, an ad 
hoc group of activists dedicated to voicing their beliefs in highly visual, 
nonviolent ways. The group organizes a protest every 5 years on Jan. 17 - the 
anniversary of the 1st lawful execution in the U.S. Since Gary Gilmore's 
execution in Utah on Jan. 17, 1977 for the murders of Ben Bushnell and Max 
Jenson, there have been 1,442 executions in the United States - an issue that 
many protests find alarming.

Faith leader Tony Campolo said he believes this movement is a call for people 
of faith to take up their mantle and fight for justice and mercy.

"The thing that people think of when they think of evangelical Christians is 
that here's a group of people who are for the death penalty, who are opposed to 
immigrants, who are homophobic, who raise questions about the feminist 
movement, and we say to ourselves, is that who we are?" Campolo said.

"We are not sure we can be called evangelical anymore if that's what 
evangelicalism means to the general public."

(source: Sojourners)

*********************

Death Row Doctor----Dr. Carlo Musso took an oath to do no harm. So why does he 
take part in executions?


One of the core pillars of medicine is "do no harm." So how do the physicians 
who take part in the American institution of capital punishment rationalize 
their involvement? This film profiles Carlo Musso, a doctor who contemplates 
his moral compass as he participates in executions, though he personally 
opposes capital punishment.

In recent years, the discussion surrounding capital punishment has shifted from 
the application of justice to the practice of medicine. Nearly every 
professional medical organization, including the American College of 
Correctional Physicians, agrees that lethal injections are not the practice of 
medicine. The protocols are not scientifically sound and procedures vary widely 
from state to state. Yet many states require nurse or physician participation. 
Opponents of medicalized executions say that using facets of medicine 
(syringes, white coats, gurneys) simply serves to legitimize a practice that 
most other developed nations abandoned long ago.

Dr. Musso agrees that this may be the case, but is adamant that as long as the 
United States conducts executions, doctors should be involved. He argues that 
the involvement of doctors and their ability to ensure what he calls "end of 
life comfort measures" helps keep our capital punishment system as humane as 
possible. He is a pragmatist and a businessman, who has founded numerous 
companies, including CorrectHealth, a provider of correctional health care in 
Georgia. When I contacted him for this film, he was consumed by his newest 
venture: a nursing home that would care for geriatric parolees. He said he 
wanted to be known as someone who cared about end-of-life issues within 
corrections - whether in geriatrics, the terminally ill or even the condemned.

Though Dr. Musso says he ended his participation in Georgia's executions last 
year, I couldn't ignore the numerous ways he was inextricably tied to the 
institution within which he works. Since it was founded in 2000, CorrectHealth 
has expanded to more than 400 employees. He has faced a complaint for helping 
the Georgia Department of Correction illegally import execution drugs and sell 
them across state lines (after investigation, no action was taken). And he told 
me he planned to organize the patients in his nursing home, as prisons often 
do, considering past prison behavior and criminal history in addition to 
illness.

While working on this film, I was reminded of Stanley Milgram's experiments on 
authority from the 1960s, which revealed how quickly most people betray their 
own morality in deference to authority. Ultimately, I came to see Dr. Musso as 
an ordinary man in an extraordinary position - but not so different from the 
way we all justify flawed institutions to which we belong.

(source: Op-Ed; Lauren Knapp is documentary filmmaker who lives in Virginia. 
She is a graduate of Stanford University's Master of Fine Arts in Documentary 
Film and Video program----New York Times)

***********************

Grace in place of hate -- The death penalty is a coping mechanism for when 
justice is impossible


Justice is sometimes impossible.

Members of the Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina welcomed Dylann Roof into 
Bible study, where they discussed scripture before Roof shot and killed 9 
people in defense of white supremacy. For the families of the 9 worshippers, 
courts will never be able to make things right.

Alicia Sanders, whose son was among the victims, said "Every fiber in my body 
hurts. I'll never be the same," according to USA Today. Nothing the justice 
system does to Roof can compensate Sanders for her loss.

The death penalty, the conclusion jurors reached in Roof's trial, tries to 
reconcile the fact that there are crimes for which the criminal cannot atone.

A poll from the University of South Carolina showed that while 64 % of white 
South Carolinians were in favor of executing Roof, only 31 % of black South 
Carolinians supported killing him. At first, I thought the racial divide was a 
result of black Americans' relationship with government - no group of Americans 
has been quite as exposed to the excesses of state violence.

2 months before Roof 's attack, just a few miles north of Emanuel AME Church, 
an unarmed man named Walter Scott was shot in the back as he ran away from 
Officer Michael Slager.

Despite graphic cell phone footage of the incident, and despite Slager being 
fired, arrested and charged with murder - unlike in many other recent police 
shootings - Slager was not convicted at his trial last December.

Black Americans are rightfully skeptical of the justice system, and this 
skepticism extends to the courts' crudest instrument: the death penalty.

But I don't think low support among black Americans for executing Roof reflects 
doubt in Roof 's guilt or the fairness of his trial. His guilt is evident, and 
court proceedings have duly dissected each moment of the horrific attack.

Rather, the families of the victims have shown they prefer forgiveness to the 
death penalty.

According to USA Today, a daughter of one of the victims said to Roof, "I 
forgive you. You took something very precious away from me ... but I forgive 
you."

A victim's sister said, "We have no room for hate. So we have to forgive.:

A granddaughter of one of the victims said, "Although my grandfather and the 
other victims died at the hands of hate, this is proof - everyone's plea for 
your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies will live in 
love."

Though the opportunity for justice has passed, these brave voices show that 
there is always a chance for grace. They show a level of integrity and moral 
clarity I wish politi- cians would match.

If anyone deserves the execution, it is Roof - and this the argument the state 
made when it decided to pursue the death penalty. Not killing Roof would set a 
dangerous precedent for not killing other heinous criminals.

But in the process of establishing precedents, procuring lethal injection drugs 
and crafting the administrative procedure for death sentences, we must not lose 
sight of the death penalty's role. It is not closure - before Roof 's 
execution, the state faces a gauntlet of appeals that will take years or 
decades. It is not justice, which is impossible given the harm Roof inflicted.

The death penalty will be a coping mechanism, the most the justice system can 
do in the face of Roof 's evil actions. The Emanuel AME Church community shows 
that a Christian message of grace might be just as effective.

(source: Danny Bugingo, uiargonaut.com)