Thursday, April 8, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Forum denounces death penalty
By Katie Burford kbfordfor.kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Four people intimately involved with the issue of capital punishment discussed their experiences and fielded students' questions last night in the Kansas Union.
All of the speakers opposed the death penalty.
About 70 students were present at the forum, which was held in Alderson Auditorium and sponsored by KU's Amnesty International chapter.
"There's a buzz word called closure.
One of the speakers, Alma Weber, said that seeing her son's killer put to death would bring her no solace. Her son, Paul, worked as a parole officer and was stabbed to death by one of his parolees in 1976.
but there is never closure to a death or murder." Weber said. "I can't understand how watching someone die would bring me closure."
Weber and Carolyn Zimmerman, another forum guest, are members of the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
Zimmerman told the audience that her father was murdered in Warrensburg, Mo., in 1969.
Normally, Zimmerman's mother would pick her father up from his office after work, but one snowy January night he called to say he was taking a cab.
Three weeks later, after the snow had thawed, he was found stabbed
to death, she said.
His killer was never identified. Zimmerman placed a picture of her father on the lectern while she spoke.
Nonetheless, she said that she had to release her resentment toward her father's killer before she was able to go on with life. She said that the death penalty was society's response to situations like hers and that it only perpetuated a disregard for human life.
"People don't want to deal the truth that we are powerless to protect ourselves from random violence." Zimmerman said.
Ben Coates, forum speaker and sociology teacher at Washburn University, cited examples of inequity in the application of capital punishment.
He said that race was the single and best predictor of whether a criminal would be sentenced to die.
In Mississippi, an African-American male's chance of being sentenced to death was 550 percent higher than a white male', he said. Currently there are two men in Kansas on death row.
Reid Nelson, a defense lawyer with the Kansas Appellate Defender Office, is working to overturn one of those sentences.
"People often ask me, 'Why do you defend these people?' he said.
He said that he was serving a fundamental function in our legal system, which entitles everyone the opportunity to defend themselves.
Many National Merit Scholars were in attendance because the event satisfied a merit-program requirement to attend several talks a year.
Quanita Crable, Wichita fresh
Alma Weber, Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty member, answers a question from the audience. The forum was held in the Alderson Auditorium last night. Photo by Michael Patrick Kelly/KANSAN
man, said that she attended to fulfill the requirement but that the topic was interesting to her. She said that she supported the death penalty in certain instances.
"It depends on the crime," Crable said.
The dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, and Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City were instances in which she thought the death sentence were justified.
- Edited by Jason Pearce
In Honor of KU Sexual Assault Awareness Week, April 12-16. You are invited to participate in
THE CLOTHESLINE
To Create A Shirt:
(For women who are survivors & for those who are friends and families of victims that have died)
Thursday, April 8, Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, 22 Strong Hall, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Monday, April 12, Corbin Hall Academic Resource Center, 7:30-10:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 13, Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, 22 Strong Hall, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
To View the Display:
Wednesday, April 14 & Friday, April 16 Stauffer-Flint Lawn 10:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, WAVL Counseling and Psychological Services, Rape Victim Survivor Service, KU Public Safety, Center for Community Outreach, Panjellentine, and KHHK.
For More Information, please contact Jerry McKedam at 841-4418
or Kathy Rose-Mockary at 864-4552.
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Visual Arts Education Club
Come and join us for appetizers, drinks and conversation. Door prizes will be awarded Bring copies of your best lesson plan to share with the group. Prizes for the best 3 lesson plans.
Last meeting of the semester Come join VAE club at Carlos O'Kellys on Sunday April 18th at 5:30pm