Albuquerque Journal

NEW MEXICO: 70 Attend Anti-Execution Rally

As Bill Pelke spoke on the steps of the Roundhouse on Saturday, he held the stick Sam Reese Sheppard carried on his 1,600-mile Walk for Alternatives Against Violence.

The movie "The Fugitive" was loosely based on the famous story of Sheppard's father, who was accused of killing his wife and their unborn son in a case that captured national attention in the 1950s.

In Pelke's own life, the death of his grandmother gained national and international attention when the woman's 15-year-old female killer was sentenced to die.

All the while, Pelke knew his grandmother didn't want the girl's grandfather to go through the same pain as the Pelke family experienced. "I knew I didn't have to see anyone else die to get healing," he said.

Pelke of Anchorage, Alaska- president and co-founder of the Journey of Hope ... From Violence to Healing Inc.- stopped by Santa Fe as part of a 14-week Abolition Day '04 Tour.

The tour, which lasts from Feb. 2 to April 30, celebrates March 1, the anniversary of the date in 1847 when Michigan became the 1st English- speaking territory to abolish the death penalty.

Saturday's rally was sponsored by United World College's Amnesty International chapter, Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation of New Mexico and the Las Vegas, N.M., chapter of Amnesty International.

About 70 people braved chilly, damp winds to listen to the speakers.

Florida resident Abe Bonowitz, a former supporter of the death penalty, owns the walking stick that Pelke held.

"My mind got changed by the facts, seeing how the death penalty is not applied equally and fairly," he said during an interview. "My heart was changed by the people who exhibit the collateral damage of the death penalty."

Bonowitz now serves as the director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

State law books talk about the agents administered during lethal injection to paralyze the body and to cause death, said Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

"It was emotional to see someone in this building had taken the time to draft a recipe for death," he said.

Ben Silverstein, 18, of United World College's Amnesty International, said the position politicians take on the death penalty will determine which candidates anti-death penalty activists vote for.

"The government has killed over 900 people since 1977, most guilty, some not," he said.

The United States reinstated the death penalty in 1977.

Juan Melendez spoke briefly about the 17 years, 8 months and 1 day he spent on Florida's death row.

His murder conviction was overturned by a circuit judge in Florida after a transcript of another man's confession to the murder was discovered.

"What saved me was dreams, dreams of hope," Melendez said. "After 10 years, I was real tired. I wanted out of there."

Melendez said he believes New Mexico will become the 1st state to repeal the death penalty since it was reinstated.

"New Mexico is the one that is going to set the example that no one has the right to kill," he said.

United World College student Chelsea Keeney, 17, said she wasn't sure how she felt about the death penalty until hearing Melendez's speech.

"Now, I'm definitely opposed," she said. "Even if my dearest loved one was killed, I would not support the death penalty."

In 1989, a judge reduced the death sentence of Paula Cooper, the girl who killed Pelke's grandmother, to 60 years in prison.

Cooper earned her college degree in prison and works for an outside company while still incarcerated. Part of her earnings go to a victim restitution fund, Pelke said.

In 1966, the elder Sheppard's conviction and death sentence were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled the trial was unfair.

Pelke called the death penalty cruel and unnecessary, cruel to the killers and the families involved.

"When the state kills, it kills in your name and it kills in my name, and I don't won't anybody killed in my name," he said.