Death Penalty demonstration marks 30 years since Gary Gilmore execution

Intermountain Catholic

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IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

The 30th anniversary of the execution of Gary Gilmore in January 1976 became a teachable moment when Amnesty International and local death penalty opponents demonstrated outside the Utah State Prison, where 10 people sit on death row. Above, Dee Rowland (right) reads from "A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death," a statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops calling for an end to the use of the death penalty. "As pastors, we share the justified anger and revulsion at terrible and deadly crimes," Rowland read. "In calling for an end to the use of the death penalty, we do not seek to diminish in any way the evil and harm caused by people who commit horrible murders. We also share the hurt and horror, the loss and heartache that are the result of unspeakable acts of violence..." The bishops also wrote of the anger and despair of victims families, victims wounded by violence, and those who work in the criminal justice system, who also deserve care and concern. "The pain and loss of one death cannot be wiped away by another death." Four members of the Juan Diego Catholic High School branch of Amnesty International attended the demonstration.