Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:57:52 GMT -5
Defying the death penalty----Moore speaks about forgiveness, getting a 2nd
shot at life
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.
(source: The (San Diego State University) Daily Aztec)
shot at life
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.
(source: The (San Diego State University) Daily Aztec)