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The
Congregations of
the Ohio
Conference
United Church
of Christ
Dear
Friends,
The
Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ held its Annual
Gathering on
June 14-15, 2002
at
Heidelberg
College. The
Conference consists of 433 local churches throughout the state
of Ohio, Northern Kentucky
and West
Virginia. At the Annual Meeting, the delegates
adopted a resolution calling for an immediate moratorium on the
death penalty and its eventual abolition in the state of
Ohio. I am writing to
all the congregations in the Ohio Conference asking for their
study and support of the adopted resolution.
A
new process was used for the adoption of the resolution which
allowed for each individual to express their views regarding
this issue in writing. I have enclosed their comments as well as
a tally of the vote. I encourage your congregation to study this
issue and to express yourselves to the Governor of the State of Ohio
on this important
question. I have
included a number of materials for you to use in your
discussions. Perhaps this would be a good topic for your youth,
adult classes or other groups in the life of your church to
study. I recognize that these materials speak specifically to Ohio, but the same
questions are before Kentucky
and West Virginia.
The
Conference delegates, composed of laypersons and clergy,
expressed their conviction as a people of faith. I am aware that
there is a wide variety of opinions within the United Church of
Christ regarding this issue.
I can say that the resolution was passed by a 79% a
majority of the delegates. When the state imposes the death
penalty, it usurps a power over life and death that belongs only
to God. A person who murders commits an immoral act both against
that person and the community of which the victim is a
part. Likewise, it is our view that the state is immoral
when it metes out retribution, an act of revenge, for it both
violates the sanctity of life and eliminates the possibility of
redemption and the restoration of justice between the offender,
the victim, and the community. As members of the United Church
of Christ we pray that you share with us, your brothers and
sisters, the common conviction that human life is sacred and
that no one, not even the state, has the right to violate
God’s precious gift.
But
we are not only a people of faith; we speak as citizens of a
state and as citizens of the United States. We are profoundly
pained by what we see as a serious threat to our democratic
values of due process and equal protection that are imbedded so
deeply within our U.S. Constitution and serve as our twin
guarantees of justice for any man or woman who might come before
the bar. We see 101 men released from death row in the
U.S.
because the justice
system wrongly convicted them, and we have no idea how many
innocent persons have been executed.
In
Ohio
we see mentally
disordered men put to death. Troubling questions still surround
the guilt or innocence of John Byrd. We observe that within the
courts, procedural issues appear to take precedence over
substantive ones. In addition, the imposition of a death
sentence depends on the county of jurisdiction, and whether a
defendant is black or white, rich or poor. Truly, there is a
serious bias in application. Appeals court judges themselves
identify instances of prosecutorial misconduct, and the
prosecution has many more resources to pursue a capital case
than the defense. These are all problems occurring in Ohio. Across the
U.S.,
judges increasingly
express reservations about capital cases; the latest is federal
Judge Rakoff in New York. Past U.S. Supreme
Court justices Marshall, Brennan, and Blackmun could not see any
way to redeem the death penalty mechanism. Sitting justices
O’Conner, Ginsburg, and Stevens are now signaling concerns
about the mechanism. We are at a point where due process and
equal protection require our attention and protection.
There
are 203 men residing on death row at Marion, and many face the
prospect of execution in the immediate future. The Conference
requests that our Governor, without delay, follow the examples
of Governors Ryan of Illinois and Glendenning of Maryland, and
declare a moratorium on capital punishment. A moratorium would
enable Ohio to establish a
mechanism to evaluate the system of capital punishment from
arrest through appeals. A thorough and rigorous re-examination
of the death penalty in Ohio
would determine
whether in fact it is being justly applied and whether it is
right or wrong in principle. Further executions would be stopped
pending the outcome of the evaluation. A moratorium would be an
expression of our determination to restore and to maintain
citizen faith in due process and equal protection. The issues
are real and urgent. We in the Conference stand ready to assist
in any way you might find helpful to address this issue
Sincerely
yours,
Ralph
C. Quellhorst
Conference Minister |