Speakers set to discuss death penalty

A Three Forks woman whose daughter was kidnapped and killed during a family camping trip will be speaking against the death penalty at the University Center Ballroom tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Also, a man whose mentally ill brother was executed for killing a person during a flashback of his time in the Vietnam War will speak.

These spokespersons are part of the “Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing” tour, sponsored by the Montana Abolition Coalition, a Montana umbrella group of religious and civil rights activists that oppose Montana’s death penalty. 

David Kaczynski, the brother of the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski who was arrested in 1996, will also be speaking Tuesday night. Kaczynski said it wasn’t his brother’s case as much as the case of a Vietnam veteran named Manny Babbitt that got him speaking out against the death penalty. He said while his brother is in prison for life without parole for a premeditated crime, Babbitt was executed for his actions during a flashback of the Vietnam War.

“You’re really not giving the death penalty to the people who commit the worst crimes,” Kaczynski said. “You are giving the death penalty to the people with the worst lawyers.”

He also said that because the death penalty is present, his choice to alert the FBI regarding suspicions of his brother’s actions made him feel that any choice he made could lead to someone’s death.

“Either way, we go through our whole lives with the blood of someone on our hands,” Kaczynski said.

John Lund, a pastor for EMMAUS Campus Ministry that is also sponsoring the tour, said the death penalty is an “archaic viewpoint” that doesn’t encourage healing.

“It gets down to what’s justice,” Lund said. “Does revenge bring peace? Does killing another person really bring peace to a community? Does that bring healing to the family?”

Different speakers against the death penalty will also be speaking throughout the day at other locations across town, and Lund hopes these events will help get students involved in open discussion regarding this controversial subject.

Included in these speakers is Curtis McCarty, an innocent man who was on death row for 19 of his 22 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The head of the forensics lab for the Oklahoma City Police Department was caught in the act of trying to destroy the DNA evidence that ultimately proved his innocence.
“When they make a mistake and kill a man, they can’t fix it,” McCarty said. “And for that reason alone, we can’t have the death penalty.”

Along with the night’s speech, speakers will be on campus during a free lunch for students and faculty Tuesday from 11:30 to 12:30 p.m. in Room 332 of the University Center. Abolition speakers will also be at the UM Center for Ethics at 11:30 a.m., and the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center at noon. The St. Paul Lutheran Church is also having a potluck dinner with table discussions about the death penalty from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

carmen.george@umontana.edu