wfn.org | Kirkpatrick signs onto religious leaders' appeal for clemency for

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6524 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

McVeigh
10-May-2001
01167

Kirkpatrick signs onto religious leaders' appeal for clemency for McVeigh

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s top ecclesiastical officer
has signed onto an appeal from inter-faith leaders asking President George
Bush to grant clemency to two convicted killers - one of them, Timothy
McVeigh.

	The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the denomination's stated clerk, signed the
letter, which was released May 8.

	The letter - sent on stationary with the insignia of the Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism - asks the president to impose a moratorium on
federal executions, using life imprisonment as punishment instead.

	There are 80 signatures, including the Rev. Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of
Sojourners Magazine; Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations; Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American
Friends Service Committee; the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, presiding bishop
and primate, Episcopal Church U.S.A.; the Rev. Michael Dodd, director of the
Columban Fathers Justice and Peace Office; Dr. Bob Edgar, general secretary
of the National Council of Churches; J. Daryl Byler, director of the
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.; Russ Siler, director of the Lutheran
Office for Governmental Affairs, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America;
and Dr. Russell B. Barber, former Religion & Ethics Editor, NBC Television,
New York City.

	The letter asks that McVeigh's execution - the first scheduled federal
execution since 1963 - not proceed.  It is scheduled for May 16.

	The writers ask the president to stay any decisions until a report studying
regional and racial biases in death penalty cases is completed by the
Department of Justice.  The study is now under way.

	"The purpose of a moratorium - a sustained opportunity for a conscientious
and thorough examination of the administration of the federal death penalty
- cannot be achieved while any executions take place," the letter reads.

	The execution of Juan Raul Garza is set for May 19.  A Mexican-American,
Garza was convicted of ordering the murders of three people to gain control
of a drug smuggling operation in south Texas.

	President Bill Clinton granted a reprieve to Garza in December, 2000, on
the basis of the Justice Department's incomplete study.

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