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Program Particulars
*Times indicated refer to web version of audio
 (01:54–03:27) Music
"The Multiples of One" from Awakening, performed by Joseph Curiale
(01:56) Voice of a Christy Hollowell
Nine days before the execution of Ronald Frye in 2001, the online documentary unit 360 Degrees interviewed people involved with the case. Listen to an extended interview with Christy Hollowell, the niece of murder victim Ralph Childress, from which the following excerpt was taken:
There's always two sides to a story, and each, I guess, believes what they're saying. But the fact of the matter is is that Ronnie killed my uncle. The death penalty is, is the only thing that I have. There has to be some sort of closure, and to me that's the only closure there can be. That's it.
(02:25) Planned Execution in Connecticut
Of the New England states, only New Hampshire and Connecticut allow capital punishment. The last execution in Connecticut took place in 1960 when Joseph Taborsky was put to death for a series of murders. Convicted serial murderer Michael Ross, who has been on death row in Connecticut for 17 years, has stated that he will no longer fight his sentence.
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| Ernie Brunelle protesting the execution of Daniel Morris Thomas. (Courtesy of Florida Photographic Collection) |
(02:34) Majority of Americans Favor the Death Penalty
The statistics Krista cites are taken from a March 2001 study developed by The Pew Research Center. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are in favor of capital punishment. Though public support remains strong, the favorability rating has reached its lowest numbers in 20 years.
Oftentimes, religious language is used both to justify and oppose capital punishment. And, until very recently, Christianity broadly condoned it. In a well-known passage, Martin Luther famously declared:
Let no one imagine that the world can be governed without the shedding of blood. The temporal sword should and must be read and bloodstained, for the world is wicked and bound to be so. Therefore the sword is God's rod and vengeance for it.
(02:45) Religious Viewpoints on the Death Penalty
Buddhism: message from Tenzin Gyatso, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Islam
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Southern Baptist Convention
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
Unitarian Universalist Association
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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"The Fatal Bed"
Photo: Michele Molinari (globevisions.com) |
(04:14) Angola Prison in Louisiana
Sister Helen Prejean's experiences with death row convict Robert Lee Willie—popularized in the movie Dead Man Walking—took place in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, a prison in Angola that was once a plantation, and is now overseen by Warden Burl Cain.
Until 1991, executions were still conducted by electrocution. The photo to the right shows the chamber where executions are performed by lethal injection. The chamber is located in the prison's reception center. View more photos of Angola's death row.
(26:48) Supreme Court Moratorium of Capital Punishment
From 1967 - 1977, no executions were performed in the United States. Read the full text of Furman v. Georgia (and listen to the oral arguments), the 1972 Supreme Court ruling that voided state death penalty statutes. The Court determined the application of the death penalty constituted "cruel and unusual punishment" and, thereby, violated the Eighth Amendment.
In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled in Gregg v. Georgia that the judicious use of the death penalty, when applied carefully, did not violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Listen to the Court's opinion and the attorneys' oral arguments.
(27:15) Governor Ryan Suspends the Death Penalty
Read the full text of the January 2000 press release issued by Republican George Ryan, governor of Illinois, from which Krista reads:
Until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate.
(27:54) Audio Clip of Pat Winkler
Nine days before the execution of Ronald Frye in 2001, the online documentary unit 360 Degrees interviewed people involved with the case. The following excerpt of the interview with Pat Winkler, the sister of the man Frye murdered, Ralph Childress, was used in our program:
Considering what all he's done and the way our family has suffered over it, I don't think it'd be wrong to wish him dead. But, you know, the Bible says "eye for an eye".
I mean I am a Christian and I believe in God, and I go to church all the time. In fact, this thing is botherin' me so I talked to my Sunday school teacher today. To see if I was totally wrong to wish somebody dead. But, she said "No, said it was not wrong in a case like this." I think I made my peace now. I think it will ease the pain. It'll just all be over. It'll all just be... probably like a bad dream.
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| Map of the United States indicating the number of states that allow executions. |
(28:48) Gallup Poll: "An Eye for an Eye"
Leading up to Rabbi Spitz's explanation of the Biblical passage "an eye for an eye", Krista references a Gallup poll published on March 2, 2001. Read the reasons those polled cited for favoring the death penalty or watch a The Gallup Poll video summarizing the results.
(35:01) Reference to Robert Cover Essay
During the program, Rabbi Spitz refers to a seminal essay entitled Nomos and Narrative that was published in the 1983 Harvard Law Review, Volume 97.
(38:49) References to Southern Baptist Convention Supporting Death Penalty
Read the complete text of the Southern Baptist Convention's Resolution on Capital Punishment, published in June 2000, from which Krista quoted:
All people, including those guilty of capital crimes, are created in the image of God and should be treated with dignity.
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Former inmate Ronald Frye.
(Courtesy: North Carolina Department of Corrections) |
(39:42) Interview with Ronald Frye
Listen to an interview with Ronald Frye nine days before his execution in a North Carolina prison (360 Degrees), from which the following transcript was excerpted:
Eight years, November 17th, that I've been on death row. There's no contact visit here. Until, unless you have that execution date. Then you can have that one contact visit that day, the day before the execution.
I've been wantin' to get my brother in a bear hug. I told him I'd get him in a bear hug and I'm not gonna let him go. It's gonna be nice. Ya know, be nice to be able to hold 'em.
Umm... bothers me to be away from my family. But I mean, you know, this isn't the final journey I guess you might want to say. Like I say I don't fear death, I'm not afraid of it. Gotta die some day.
When I was young I wanted to be a fireman. But that was just a kids dream I guess.
What would I be doing now if I wasn't here? I have no idea.
(43:50) Death Penalty and Economics
Krista cites that approximately 1.5 percent of capital cases end in a death sentence. Sister Helen believes the determining factor is that the poorest defendants can't afford adequate legal help. A study, "Explaining Death Row's Population and Racial Composition," published in the March 2004 issue of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies provides an in-depth statistical analysis of death sentence rates and their relation to race.
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Debbie Morris
