Pope Francis Calls For Abolishing The Death Penalty And Life Imprisonment
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/pope-francis-calls-for-abolishing-death.html
Pope Francis Tries to Stop Richard Glossip's Oklahoma Execution
Tracy Connor
Pope Francis, who was not able to stop a Georgia woman's execution, has asked for a reprieve for an Oklahoma man headed for death chamber Wednesday afternoon.
Richard Glossip, whose supporters include "Dead Man Walking" nun Helen Prejean and actress Susan Sarandon, is due to be put to death at 3 p.m. CT if his appeals are rejected. He insists that he is innocent in the 1997 murder of his boss.
In a letter to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin dated Sept. 21, the pope's representative asked her to commute Glossip's death sentence, saying that would "give clearer witness to the value and dignity of every person's life."
Georgia Woman Slated For Execution At 7 p.m. Today
A spokeswoman for Fallin said she does not have the authority to commute the sentence. The letter was also sent to the state parole board.
On Tuesday, the pope tried to convince Georgia's parole board to halt another execution, the lethal injection of Kelly Anne Gissendaner, who was put to death hours later while singing "Amazing Grace."
That intervention came just days after he wrapped up his first visit to the United States, where called for a global ban on the death penalty in a speech to Congress.
It was unclear if the pontiff's request would have any effect on Glossip's situation. He had an appeal pending with the U.S. Supreme Court as the clock ticked down.
Glossip's execution has been stayed three times before, including last winter when the Supreme Court agreed to hear his challenge to Oklahoma's lethal-injection drugs. The justice's upheld the state's protocol.
Two weeks ago, Glossip was hours away from being escorted to the execution chamber when a state appeals court halted the process so it could consider his claim that new evidence show he is innocent.
Glossip's conviction hinged largely on the testimony of the man who actually carried out the 1997 murder of his boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese. That man, Justin Sneed, is serving a life sentence.
The defense says it has witnesses who back up their claim that Sneed acted alone, and that the state has tried to intimidate those witnesses by hitting them with probation violations.
Van Treese's family says they have no doubt that Glossip was involved in the murder to cover up a $10,000 embezzlement.
There are four more inmates scheduled for execution nationwide in the next week.
Before Pope Francis calls for political leaders to abolish the death penalty via their secular laws, he should first abolish it within his very own sacred traditions since the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2266 allows for it, “Preserving the common good of society requires rendering the aggressor unable to inflict harm. For this reason the traditional teaching of the Church has acknowledged as well-founded the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, NOT EXCLUDING, IN CASE OF EXTREME GRAVITY, THE DEATH PENALTY. For analogous reasons those holding authority have the right to repel by armed force aggressors against the community in their charge.”
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