Death Penalty

Robert Curley, Durham NH, 9-3-2010

Robert Curley testifies before NH Death Penalty Study Commission, Septeber 30, 2010.

Thirteen years ago today, when an 11-year old boy, Jeffrey Curley, was brutally murdered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his father immediately became the chief spokesperson for a movement to restore the state’s death penalty.  “Initially I don’t know how I could feel any way other than to be in favor of the death penalty,” Robert Curley recalled last night in testimony before a commission studying New Hampshire’s death penalty.  But over time, Curley says, he was able to take a closer look and changed his mind.  Now, he participates in an international movement to abolish the d

Moratorium Lobby Day 2010

From left: Faheemah Thabit, AFSC St. Louis Program Coordinator; AFSC volunteers Ponchita Argieard and Rita Mauchenheimer

The following is a March 17, 2010 interview with AFSC St. Louis staff and volunteers at the Death Penalty Moratorium Lobby Day at the State Capitol in Jefferson City, MO. AFSC is one of 400 organizations in Missouri that are working for a two-year halt in executions while a study is done.

Jon Krieg: What brought you to today’s lobby day for a death penalty moratorium?

Death Penalty Lobbying in Missouri 3-10

Rep. Hope Whitehead (right) talks with Ponchita Argieard of AFSC’s St. Louis Program Committee.

 

Brand new State Representative Hope Whitehead of St. Louis wasn’t even aware of a death penalty moratorium bill until AFSC staff and volunteers walked into her office last month. A former prosecutor who once tried a death penalty case, Rep. Whitehead said she knows there are problems with the death penalty and that a study is needed, but she wasn’t sure about a moratorium.