Current 'circus' perfect reason to abolish death penalty, protesters say
By Michele Holtkamp
Tribune-Star
The delay in execution of Timothy McVeigh is a perfect example of why the death penalty should be abolished, say opponents and those who planned to protest in Terre Haute next week.
"What better reason could we possibly have in America to abolish killing criminals than the current circus we have now?" said Bud Welch, who is a strong opponent of the death penalty even though his daughter, Julie, was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. Welch has taken his anti-death penalty talks across the country, and visited Terre Haute earlier this year.
McVeigh, the man convicted in the April 19, 1995, blast, was to be executed Wednesday at the U.S. Penitentiary, Terre Haute. Broadcast television crews already had started setting up tents and stages for next week's broadcasts when reports surfaced that the FBI had accidentally withheld information promised to McVeigh's defense attorneys during his trial more than three years ago.
Attorney General John Ashcroft on Friday postponed McVeigh's execution until June 11, saying an investigation into the content of the withheld files and how the FBI erred was necessary to promote and protect the integrity of the American justice system.
With Ashcroft's announcement came a flurry of cancellations and postponements throughout Terre Haute. Some vigils and prayer services will continue, but most speeches and memorials will be postponed until June.
Sister Mary Beth Klingel of St. Margaret Mary Church in Terre Haute was happy and relieved to hear of the delay in McVeigh's execution.
"It was another opportunity to keep honing away to get the death penalty abolished, and it gives Timothy McVeigh some more time on Earth," Klingel said Friday. She admits that the postponement is hard on the victims in Oklahoma and McVeigh's family, and is disruptive to residents of Terre Haute.
"And it just shows how flawed things are, in such a high profile case, there have been errors, at least in procedure," Klingel said.
Suzanne Carter of the Terre Haute Abolition Network said the postponement hurts the victims families and is distressful for McVeigh, who probably was prepared to die already.
"It is just an illustration of how the death penalty operates," said Carter, who planned to protest next week.
Welch said the FBI's mess up makes him "totally embarrassed" to be an American system.
"When we finally do kill Tim McVeigh, then we are going to end up with a staged political event," Welch said in a telephone interview Friday, shortly after Ashcroft's announcement. "It does nothing more than that."
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