Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 21, 2006 14:03:25 GMT -5
Defying the death penalty
Moore speaks about forgiveness, getting a second shot at life
Barbara Medina, Staff Writer
Posted: 9/21/06
The biggest worries of most San Diego State students include when their next exam date is, not extreme events such as an execution. Recently, however, SDSU students had the chance to hear an account of what being on death row is like.
Former death row inmate, William Neal Moore, spoke to students during a death-penalty forum Tuesday night about his experience and beliefs - including his thought that death is not the solution to a crime.
Moore may not have been the first death row inmate who turned to religion to cope; however, his honesty and sincere regret earned him the forgiveness of the family of the victim who lost his life in the matter.
This forgiveness motivated Moore to change the lives of others during the nearly 17 years he spent on Georgia's death row.
According to his account of why he ended up on death row, Moore said he was a 22-year-old soldier in need of money to support his son when a friend said that 77-year-old Fredger Stapleton kept money in his house. Moore was allegedly inebriated and high on marijuana one day when he entered Stapleton's house, and when Stapleton fired a shotgun, Moore shot back.
"Thirty minutes later I was sober," he said. "It felt like part of me had died; it was the worst feeling that I had ever felt - my mind realizing that I had shot someone."
Moore said that after he pleaded guilty to the robbery and murder of Stapleton, the sheriff suggested the death penalty, leading the judge to sentence Moore with death without hearing his case.
"The judge isn't supposed to listen to the sheriff and give you a death sentence," Moore said. "Even by pleading guilty, I was supposed to have the option to present my evidence.
"But there was no option there because he had already sentenced me to death before he heard anything."
Moore's execution in the form of electrocution was scheduled for Sept. 13, 1974.
"The only thing that we think as human beings (that) we control is our lives," Moore said. "To hear a judge say I would be executed … I thought I was going to die right then and have a heart attack."
However, the execution didn't happen because his case was appealed - partly because he did not have a fair trial, he said.
But while he was still on death row, Moore spent most of his time studying law books that his sister bought for him so he could take action. He had wanted to represent himself after learning that his lawyer was asking his sister for $3,000 to appeal his case.
Moore kept receiving different execution dates during the next 16 years. Then, in August 1990, just hours away from Moore's scheduled electrocution, Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles commuted his sentence to life in prison after family members' pleas and the intervention of religious figures including Mother Teresa. This was the first time an inmate's death sentence had been reduced in the state of Georgia.
Throughout his time on death row, he communicated with the victim's family through letters until he was put on parole and let out of prison on Nov. 8, 1991.
Since his release, Moore has been speaking about the death penalty for the last 14 years.
"Everybody can change," he said to students at the forum. "Some take 10 years, others longer. But if you cut their life, you cut that possibility for them to change."
Moore, who is now a reverend, has been speaking across campuses in San Diego to raise awareness on capital punishment in Southern California and to illustrate why death should not be the punishment for crime.
The forum on Tuesday was organized by Michael Peddecord, professor of public health, and the San Diego chapter of California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty - an interfaith organization formed to abolish the death penalty in California and throughout the United States.
At the forum, the organization was collecting signatures for a petition for the moratorium on execution in California to be passed.
"San Diego has been very quiet on this issue," said Ronnie Friedman-Barone, who is a member of CPFWADP. "What we're doing is getting people who care about this issue to come out from behind the woodwork, learn more about it, talk about it and begin to take a stand on it."
Physics sophomore Scott Gustafson, who attended the forum for more information on the death penalty, said he encourages students to educate themselves on the issue before making any judgments on whether it's right or wrong.
Gustafson said he believes there are people who need to be imprisoned because they're a danger to society.
But, he said, Moore's case illustrates what can happen to a person: that one can learn his or her lesson.
"There's a chance of them changing," said Gustafson, who is also a member of the Catholic Newman Center on Hardy Avenue. "Look at (Moore), he came from death row to become a reverend; obviously something happened there."
Gustafson, who signed the petition, said he hopes his signature at least brings more attention to the issue.
"If only one person can change, then I think that's a good enough reason," he said.
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© Copyright 2006 The Daily Aztec
Moore speaks about forgiveness, getting a second shot at life
Barbara Medina, Staff Writer
Posted: 9/21/06
The biggest worries of most San Diego State students include when their next exam date is, not extreme events such as an execution. Recently, however, SDSU students had the chance to hear an account of what being on death row is like.
Former death row inmate, William Neal Moore, spoke to students during a death-penalty forum Tuesday night about his experience and beliefs - including his thought that death is not the solution to a crime.
Moore may not have been the first death row inmate who turned to religion to cope; however, his honesty and sincere regret earned him the forgiveness of the family of the victim who lost his life in the matter.
This forgiveness motivated Moore to change the lives of others during the nearly 17 years he spent on Georgia's death row.
According to his account of why he ended up on death row, Moore said he was a 22-year-old soldier in need of money to support his son when a friend said that 77-year-old Fredger Stapleton kept money in his house. Moore was allegedly inebriated and high on marijuana one day when he entered Stapleton's house, and when Stapleton fired a shotgun, Moore shot back.
"Thirty minutes later I was sober," he said. "It felt like part of me had died; it was the worst feeling that I had ever felt - my mind realizing that I had shot someone."
Moore said that after he pleaded guilty to the robbery and murder of Stapleton, the sheriff suggested the death penalty, leading the judge to sentence Moore with death without hearing his case.
"The judge isn't supposed to listen to the sheriff and give you a death sentence," Moore said. "Even by pleading guilty, I was supposed to have the option to present my evidence.
"But there was no option there because he had already sentenced me to death before he heard anything."
Moore's execution in the form of electrocution was scheduled for Sept. 13, 1974.
"The only thing that we think as human beings (that) we control is our lives," Moore said. "To hear a judge say I would be executed … I thought I was going to die right then and have a heart attack."
However, the execution didn't happen because his case was appealed - partly because he did not have a fair trial, he said.
But while he was still on death row, Moore spent most of his time studying law books that his sister bought for him so he could take action. He had wanted to represent himself after learning that his lawyer was asking his sister for $3,000 to appeal his case.
Moore kept receiving different execution dates during the next 16 years. Then, in August 1990, just hours away from Moore's scheduled electrocution, Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles commuted his sentence to life in prison after family members' pleas and the intervention of religious figures including Mother Teresa. This was the first time an inmate's death sentence had been reduced in the state of Georgia.
Throughout his time on death row, he communicated with the victim's family through letters until he was put on parole and let out of prison on Nov. 8, 1991.
Since his release, Moore has been speaking about the death penalty for the last 14 years.
"Everybody can change," he said to students at the forum. "Some take 10 years, others longer. But if you cut their life, you cut that possibility for them to change."
Moore, who is now a reverend, has been speaking across campuses in San Diego to raise awareness on capital punishment in Southern California and to illustrate why death should not be the punishment for crime.
The forum on Tuesday was organized by Michael Peddecord, professor of public health, and the San Diego chapter of California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty - an interfaith organization formed to abolish the death penalty in California and throughout the United States.
At the forum, the organization was collecting signatures for a petition for the moratorium on execution in California to be passed.
"San Diego has been very quiet on this issue," said Ronnie Friedman-Barone, who is a member of CPFWADP. "What we're doing is getting people who care about this issue to come out from behind the woodwork, learn more about it, talk about it and begin to take a stand on it."
Physics sophomore Scott Gustafson, who attended the forum for more information on the death penalty, said he encourages students to educate themselves on the issue before making any judgments on whether it's right or wrong.
Gustafson said he believes there are people who need to be imprisoned because they're a danger to society.
But, he said, Moore's case illustrates what can happen to a person: that one can learn his or her lesson.
"There's a chance of them changing," said Gustafson, who is also a member of the Catholic Newman Center on Hardy Avenue. "Look at (Moore), he came from death row to become a reverend; obviously something happened there."
Gustafson, who signed the petition, said he hopes his signature at least brings more attention to the issue.
"If only one person can change, then I think that's a good enough reason," he said.
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© Copyright 2006 The Daily Aztec