community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
Pennsylvania Residents Demand Moratorium Now!
by Quinten
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003 at 11:25 PM
quinten@indypgh.org
Pennsylvanians rallied in Harrisburg Saturday, calling for an end to executions in the state. The rally, part of Amnesty International's global day against the death penalty, was co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union, A United Method Witness in Pennsylvania, the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, the Civil Rights Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association, and R.E.M.
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Calling "Moratorium Now," hundreds of Pennsylvanians gathered at the State Capitol Building Saturday in participation with Amnesty International's world day against the death penalty, and then marched to Governor Rendells' Harrisburg residence. Representatives of organizations in Pittsburgh, Erie, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and more distant cities were there.
The keynote speaker was former Governor Ryan of Illinois, who in the midst of scandal and facing health problems, gained worldwide attention and rumors of candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize when he commuted more than 160 death row sentences in his state, citing a lack of action by the State legislature and compelling evidence that the system was a failure as reasons for his immediate action.
The most compelling speakers, however, were those who had a more personal connection with death row.
Perhaps the most powerful testimony came from former Philadelphians Sylvester and Vicki Schieber, who told of the murder of their daughter and their continuing opposition the death penalty. They blame their daughter's death on the incompetent police force, which had a pattern of downgrading sexual offenses like that of the killer who was responsible for their daughters death to non-crimes, and who had ignored two previous victims in the weeks before their daughter's death.
"We were raised in a climate where hatred was a sin," said Sylvester. "We knew that if you don't keep your principles when it's hard, they were never principles to begin with."
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1972, six people in Pennsylvania alone have later been found to be innocent due to incontrovertible evidence. In the entire country, 109.
"It's no longer a question of whether you are for the death penalty or against it," said former Attorney General Ernie Preate. "It's whether you are for or against justice, for or against fairness."
Governor Ryan
by Quinten
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003 at 11:25 PM
quinten@indypgh.org
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Mr. and Mrs. Schieber
by Quinten
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003 at 11:25 PM
quinten@indypgh.org
sylvester_and_vicki_scheiber.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x480
In front of the Governor's Mansion
by Quinten
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003 at 11:25 PM
quinten@indypgh.org
governor_mansion.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x480
Stop Executions
by Quinten
Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003 at 11:25 PM
quinten@indypgh.org
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