South Florida Sun-Sentinel

FLORIDA: INTERVIEW with SueZann Bosler,

Cofounder & Board Member JOURNEY OF HOPE�

from Violence to Healing

 Q. You were in South Florida recently as part of "The Innocence Tour." What is that and why are you participating?

 A. This is sponsored by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. It was called The Innocence Tour because of a man named Juan Melendez, the 24th person to be taken off Death Row in Florida who was innocent. We were touring around the state because we wanted to show everybody the proof, Juan Melendez, that the death penalty isn't working, that it leads to conviction and execution of innocent people, and that it isn't fair or accurate.

 Also, people like myself and others with the Journey of Hope from Violence to Healing are representing families of murder victims. What we are saying is: Don't execute murderers on our behalf; instead, sentence them to life in prison without parole.

 Q. Your story is really one of the most compelling and amazing I've ever heard. What happened to you that made you an opponent of the death penalty?

 A. Dec. 22, 1986, was the day that changed my life, because I watched my father, the Rev. Billy Bosler, get stabbed to death. He was a minister of the Church of the Brethren. He and I were attacked in the church parsonage in Opa Locka. My father was stabbed 24 times. I was stabbed five times and left for dead.

 It was an experience that I wish I could change, but I can't. But I can move forward with it to bring some good out of the bad that happened, by educating Floridians to see what is going wrong with the death penalty system in Florida.

Q. Why did this man, James Bernard Campbell, break into the parsonage?

 A. It was proven he was on drugs at the time and was coming there for money for more drugs.

Q. And you testified at his trial and appeals?

 A. Yes, we had the pretrial, the guilty/not-guilty phase and the three sentencings, because he got two more resentencing hearings through appeals. The whole process took 10 1/2 years. He was eventually sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without parole.

Q. But he was originally sentenced to the electric chair.

 A. I never supported that. I didn't believe in it. It doesn't mean I'm not human enough to be angry at what happened.

 Some people say it's unnatural or unreasonable to feel this way. Some people call me crazy, too. I've been called a lot of things, because people don't understand how I was able to go from one phase to the other in the healing process.

 Once I was having a debate with my father about the death penalty, discussing all the moral and religious and other reasons he opposed it. He gave me an example: "If anyone were ever to kill me, I would still not want that person to get the death penalty."

 I know my father was against it before, and I know he's still against it. I know he wanted me to fight for that man's life.

Q. What happened to you when you tried to make your voice heard at the trials and appeals?

 A. Me being a victim, I thought my opinion would be important in court. But I realized later I was treated by the state attorney as a puppet on a string. Because they wanted the death penalty and they said, "OK, SueZann can testify and help us get it. So we're going to manipulate her."

 At the third trial, the state attorney asked my occupation. I said I was a hairdresser, but I also work to abolish the death penalty.

 From then on out, it was them-against-me. They labeled me "bad victim." The judge told me, "If you ever say anything about the death penalty again, I will send you to jail for six months for contempt of court and fine you $500."

Q. What about executing only the "worst of the worst" killers? Certainly, your father's killer would seem to qualify for that status due to the viciousness of his crime. What about the Ted Bundys of the world, the Osama bin-Ladens, or the Washington-area snipers?

 A. Even in cases like that, I still believe that execution is wrong. I still believe that the proper maximum penalty for crimes like that should be life without parole.

Q. What are Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty trying to accomplish? To change people's minds about the death penalty long-term, to get Florida to change its rules and abolish the death penalty?

 A. That would be nice. That would be wonderful. But in the long run, we are realistic, as far as trying to educate Floridians and teach them about what is not right about the death penalty and at least try to get a moratorium, so we can investigate and find out what is wrong with the system.

Q. What is wrong with the system, especially in Florida?

 A. There's been a lot of proof in Florida that some people were proven innocent after they were convicted, and some after they were executed. Don't you see the wrong in that right there? I ask people who are for the death penalty: "What if it were your brother, your father, your sister? What if it were you?"

Q. Juan Melendez was the 24th person released from Florida's Death Row since the death penalty was reinstated in 1972. Tell us his story.

 A. He was on Death Row for 17 years, eight months and one day. He was accused of killing someone he didn't kill.There were 17 documents found that the prosecutors held back, documents that showed he could be nnocent. The judge released him last Jan. 3, and said he was actually innocent.

Q. Is Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty promoting some kind of compensation fund, to repay Death Row inmates who are set free due to wrongful convictions?

 A. When he got out, Juan Melendez got only $100, a shirt and a pair of pants, and some shoes from another inmate on Death Row. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty raised several thousand dollars to help him get back on his feet.

 Ohio has a compensation fund that pays inmates $25,000 a year for every wrongful year of incarceration. Of course, everybody knows it's not going to pay them back for what they went through. But it should be necessary to help them to start their lives all over again.

Q. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has said state politicians and prosecutors and the public are "in denial" about the death penalty. Are they in denial, thinking that it deters murderers, brings closure to victims' families and is administered in a fair and just way?

 A. The government has yet to prove to me that it's a deterrent. We have had surveys and studies show that there is more crime and murder around the time of an execution.

 Racism is part of it also. There are more white people on Death Row, but a black person who kills a white person is more likely to be executed than a white person who kills a black person.

 It costs more to execute someone, because of the many appeals, than to keep them in prison for life.

 There is no "closure." I call it "the C-word." It's a dirty word, not a part of my vocabulary. Look at what happened to me. My case was 10 1/2 years from the beginning to the end of appeals and sentencing. If they did a simple sentence of life without parole, I wouldn't have had to have gone through that.

 It feels like it keeps tearing away a scab that I have. On every additional trial, I had to keep reopening that scab over and over again. There's no closure in this for me. I forgave him, but I cannot forget what happened that day.

 The best healing part for me, and other victims' families, is if the killer gets life without parole, not death.

 I read in the paper that Gov. Jeb Bush said he was for continuing the death penalty to help murder victims' families have closure and get on with their lives. I could just gag. Because he is sure as heck not talking for me, and he is not talking for many other families of murder victims. I tell him: "Do not speak in my name. Do not kill in my name."

Q. Your organization has pointed out that the snipers weren't deterred by the death penalty in Virginia.

 A. There are people we've asked on Death Row: "Didn't you know there was a death penalty?" "Of course." "Then why did you kill that person." "Because I didn't think I would be caught." What kind of deterrent is that? The death penalty is no deterrent whatsoever.

Q. One of the arguments made about not executing killers is the value of keeping them alive to study them. They have some psychopathology, or something happened to them that made them do this. Should we find out what makes them tick, and use that to deter other killers?

 A. Juan Melendez mentioned that he hopes we can pick their brains to find out what makes them kill. The brain is a hard thing to pick. They have a high percentage of people with mental problems, not just on Death Row, but in jail period.

 The man that stabbed me and my dad had all the factors. He was severely abused as a child and suffered from drug and alcohol abuse. You name it, he had it. Drank bleach once to try to kill himself. He was horribly abused and his brain was not working very well. He had an IQ of 71 and was said to be on the border of mental retardation.

 I'm not condoning what he did or what other killers have done. But we have to look into that part about them. More than likely, if he weren't abused, he likely wouldn't have murdered. That doesn't excuse, but it does help explain.

Q. I understand 38 states, including Florida, have the death penalty. Illinois and Maryland have imposed a moratorium on executions. Do you see a trend where more politicians and people are taking a closer look at the death penalty and raising questions?

A. I started speaking against the death penalty in 1988. Since then, I have seen a tremendous difference. We do see a swing in the pendulum every year, going toward that. I told Jeb Bush personally we need a moratorium, so they can investigate the errors in the death penalty system.

Q. How many innocent people have been freed from Death Rows across the country?

 A. Right now there are 102 nationwide, with others about to be set free. That's about 1 out of 7 people sentenced to death who were later freed.

Q. What, in summary, is the message you want to give the governor, the state legislators and the people of Florida about your crusade?

 A. What I am saying is in Florida we need a fair and accurate death penalty system. Right now it is not. What we are asking for is a moratorium, a time-out on executions to investigate what the errors are in the death penalty system.

 Why kill people who kill people to show us that killing people is wrong? The death penalty is dead-wrong. Do not kill for me. Do not kill for us.

 Interviewed by Senior Editorial Writer Tom Sander

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For more details about the story of SUEZANN BOSLER, please read: http://www.journeyofhope.org/People/suezann_bosler.htm, on the web-site of the Journey of Hope.