WDEL-AM reports, "Council supports death penalty repeal, group home moratorium." It's by Tom Lehman. There is audio at the link.
Wilmington City Council debated whether it should support efforts by state lawmakers to repeal the death penalty and requested the state put a moratorium on group homes within the city limits at Thursday night's meeting.
Councilwoman Sherry Dorsey Walker, who sponsored the resolution in question, says repealing the death penalty would help free up money used to fight the appeals of death row inmates, which could be used to improve public safety
"That money can be going to their departments versus going into the prison system," Dorsey Walker says.
Before a vote took place, the councilwoman said she had originally supported the death penalty after a loved one was killed when she was 11 years old.
"It was like the only way this could be resolved is if the people responsible had to feel like we felt," she said.
She then explained that her views changed upon religious reflection when she grew older and she became involved with Delaware Repeal.
However, Councilman Samuel Prado disagreed that council should support death penalty repeal, especially since he believes it's only reserved for the worst of criminals. He invoked the crimes committed by convicted murderer and rapist Brian Steckel, who was executed in 2005.
"I think we have short memories in this state. There are people who I just...they don't deserve to live," Prado says.
The resolution passed in a 9-2 decision.
"Murder victims' family members share stories, views on capital punishment," is the Cape Gazette report.
Kristin Froehlich’s brother and four of his friends were murdered in 1995. Judith Elane, who was newly married at the time, remembers the long trip to her brother’s funeral after he was murdered in 1968. Joe Byrne spent years focused on the trials and appeals of the man who was convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of his wife in 1985, but the closure he expected did not come with the man’s execution.
With decades of perspective on the aftermath of murder, Froehlich, Elane and Byrne spoke at the April meeting of Dining with Progressives at Fish On! restaurant in Lewes.
Elane, Byrne and Froehlich are now members of the national organization Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation. Their stories are different, yet they all believe the resources and costs of a capital trial would be better used to help victims’ families heal.
Byrne has spoken publicly about the death penalty for decades, but this event was the first time he spoke out against it. “When Sherry’s killer was finally executed in 2003, I was there, and I was ready for the pain to be over,” said Byrne. But the pain did not end, and it is only recently that Byrne realized, “All those years of appeals and waiting just made me put my healing process on hold. Maintaining that anger and the desire for vengeance did nothing to Sherry’s killer, but it really damaged me,” Byrne said. “We can let victims’ families begin their healing process much faster without the uncertainty of the death penalty. I’ve changed my mind. I now believe the ultimate punishment should be life without the possibility of parole.”
Froehlich, a licensed clinical social worker in Wilmington, said she knows many people believe the death penalty is for the victims. “That is not my experience. Grieving and healing are lifelong processes with no shortcuts,” she said.
The event was sponsored by Delaware Repeal, a coalition of organizations, community partners, faith leaders and individuals working to repeal the death penalty in Delaware.
Earlier coverage of the Delaware repeal legislation begins at the link.
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