Three executions

The United States has scheduled three executions this week” Kelly Gissendaner in Georgia, Richard Glossip in Oklahoma and Alfredo Prieto in Virginia.

Gissendaner’s children are pleading for her life. They and others who know her say she epitomizes the prison system in that she has transformed herself behind bars. Gissendaner earned a degree in theology and ministers to fellow inmates. She is deeply remorseful for arranging the murder of her husband, Doug, in 1997. She doesn’t want freedom — she says she deserves a life in prison.

As I write this, a parole and pardons board in Georgia is meeting to reconsider an earlier decision to deny clemency.

Read my stories about Gissendaner here:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/27/us/georgia-sets-execution/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/21/us/death-row-inmate-theology/

I spoke with Glossip in Oklahoma last January, days before an execution date was set back then. He has always maintained his innocence and told me he was afraid the state would botch his execution like they had Clayton Lockett’s. Read the story here:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/15/us/oklahoma-resumes-executions/

Prieto  is a Salvadoran national who is lawyers say has an intellectual disability that would render his execution unconstitutional. You can read more about him here: http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/uaa19815.pdf

Here is the link to the Death Penalty Center:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/

Here is a pro-death penalty forum:

http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/

The United States is the only Western democracy that still has capital punishment. What do you think? Should we still have executions in this country?