J. MILES CARY NEWS SENTINEL Michelle Smith bikes past the small group of people holding a vigil against the death penalty in front of Church Street United Methodist Church on Henley Street Friday.

By SARAH SHERBURN, sherburns@knews.com
March 1, 2003

James Staub knows what it's like to lose a loved one to a violent crime. His mother was murdered when he was 12 years old.

"I knew then that revenge wouldn't bring her back," the South Knoxville resident said.

So even though he is a victim of violent crime, he opposes the death penalty.

Staub and other members of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing held a small vigil Friday outside Church Street United Methodist Church in observance of International Death Penalty Abolition Day. It was 156 years ago today - March 1, 1847 - when the state of Michigan became the first English-speaking territory to abolish capital punishment.

Staub says the first argument death penalty advocates make is that opponents have no personal connection, he said. He holds himself up as proof that is not always true.

The coalition, Staub says, "is seeking a moratorium on the death penalty," adding that the policy needs to be evaluated "to see if it is exercised in a just manner."

Tennessee had a de facto moratorium on the death penalty from 1960 to April 2000, when Robert Glen Coe was executed by lethal injection.

"It is hypocritical to call for the killing of those who kill," said Lois Presser, a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Tennessee.

People should take the responsibility to learn about the death penalty because if they are not protesting it, they are supporting it, she added.

"It's no time to just let things happen," Presser said.

Sister Anne Hablas of LaFollette who works with the local Catholic Diocese and a group called Justice-Peace-Integrity of Creation, agreed that knowledge is the key in understanding the death penalty.

"Capital punishment is immoral (and) unjust," she said, adding that the three Tennessee Bishops of the Catholic Church have spoken strongly against the death penalty.

"Telling people killing is wrong by killing other people doesn't make sense," said Glenda Struss-Keyes, director of the Creation group and a vigil participant. "Anything that destroys life affects everything else."

Copyright 2003, Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. Click for permission to reprint