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Faith in Action:Working
to Abolish the Death Penalty
LISTEN
Audio
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A discussion of the role that faith plays in promoting reconciliation.
Participants
Kathy Harris, Moderator
Kathy Harris serves as Amnesty International's State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator
in Alaska and is a member of the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty's National
Steering Committee.
SueZann Bosler
SueZann Bosler lost her father, Rev. Billy Bosler, to an intruder in her home
and was herself stabbed and left for dead. She worked for more than ten
years to fulfill the promise she had made to her father, that if he were ever
murdered, the killer should not be executed. After two death sentences were
overturned on appeal, SueZann hired a victim's rights attorney to help her make
her wishes known: James Bernard Campbell was sentenced to life without parole.
SueZann Bosler is a member of Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation and
serves on the board of directors of the Journey of Hope ...From Violence to Healing,
Inc. In her words, she "I do hair, and I work to abolish the death
penalty." SueZann lives in Hallendale, Florida.
Maria Hines
Maria Hines, of Louisville, Kentucky, is a former board member of Murder Victims
Families for Reconciliation, as well as the founder and director of its Kentucky
affiliate. In 1989 her brother, a Virginia State trooper, was killed in the line
of duty. The man who killed Jerry Hines received a death sentence. Before his
execution, Maria forgave Dennis Eaton and, unsuccessfully, sought clemency for
him. She continues her work as a staunch opponent of the death penalty through
her own organization and through membership in the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty.
Juan Melendez
Juan Melendez, who spent more than 17 years on Florida's death row before his
conviction was thrown out and the charges against him dismissed. Melendez was
freed on January 3, 2002, and is the most recently released of the 24 people exonerated
from Florida's death row so far.
Bill Pelke
Bill is a retired steelworker from Bethlehem Steel, in NW Indiana. Bill became
an abolitionist after a fifteen year old girl by the name of Paula Cooper was
sentenced to death by the State of Indiana for the murder of his grandmother.
Bill was involved in an international effort to have Paula's death sentenced overturned.
Bill Pelke is the President and Cofounder of the Journey of Hope...From Violence
to Healing, an organization that is led by murder victims families who oppose
the death penalty. He has traveled around the world for the last thirteen years
speaking out for the abolition of the death penalty. He is also a member of the
Board of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Vice President of
Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, a founding board member of Murder Victims
Families for Reconciliation and on the advisory board for Citizens United for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Lois Robison, Panelist
Lois and her husband Ken are the Co-Directors of HOPE of CURE, an issue chapter
of both National CURE and TX CURE. They work with Death Row prisoners,
their families and friends, victims families and activists to abolish the death
penalty, improve conditions on death row, and serve as a support group. Their
son Larry was executed by the State of Texas January 21, 2000, despite evidence
of serious mental illness. Larry was first diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic
at Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth when he was 21 years old. Because the Robison's
insurance no longer covered him, he was discharged.
Ken and Lois Robison believe that appropriate treatment is the only answer
to preventing mentally ill persons from committing acts of violence. Nearly
a third of the people on death row are either mentally ill or mentally retarded.
Until preventive medical help is available, they believe that tragedies will only
continue.
Ken is a college teacher and Lois is a retired third grade teacher.
They have eight children, fifteen grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
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