defendants & families

One thing we now know is how incredibly expensive the death penalty is. Studies in Colorado have shown our death penalty uses a tremendous amount of resources, millions more than would be spent if our state’s ultimate punishment were life without parole.

Instead of investing millions in a death penalty case that strings along victims’ for years we should invest that money in services that will help all victims.

If my brother's wife is sentenced to death for her actions, we will have to face years, perhaps decades, of mandatory appeals.

Concerning the claim of justice for the victim's family, I say there is no amount of retaliatory deaths that would compensate to me the inestimable value of my daughter's life, nor would they restore her to my arms. To say that the death of any other person would be just retribution is to insult the immeasurable worth of our loved ones who are victims. We cannot put a price on their lives. That kind of justice would only dehumanize and degrade us because it legitimates an animal instinct for gut-level blood thirsty revenge.

Ted's life wasn't spared because he's any sicker than 100 or so seriously mentally ill people that our government has executed since 1992. His life was spared because he had great lawyers... I began to see the criminal justice system for what it is: an imperfect system run by fallible human beings. From the moment of a suspect's arrest to the condemned man's final breath, the process is influenced by so many variables and so many subjective judgments that inconsistent results are practically guaranteed.

We don't even know how many children have an immediate family member on death row in the United States today. Worse, we don't know the effect that having a parent executed will have upon their impressionable lives, and cost society may pay, for that impact...these children are all innocent victims of the state's efforts to kill their loved ones.

Do we want more lawyers arguing in court, or more cops on the street? Do we want longer trials, or better victim services? Do we want to kill an unlucky few (not necessarily the worst), or do we want to help troubled kids before they end up hurting someone? In the real world, these are the choices we must make.

Some say there are solutions to the prolonged suffering of murder victims' family members when it comes to the death penalty – fewer appeals, less scrutiny, a cheaper system. But a shorter and cheaper system means more mistakes, more people like Ray caught in the system or even worse, executed quickly – before they can prove their innocence.

There were times when I felt like I, myself, could have injected the man who killed my stepmother and 16 year-old stepsister. But that man is my father. I was 23 years old when my father committed his heinous act of violence and it initially left me with many questions of why. But, I can also attest that my father's violence is directly related to the inner strength which has continued to develop in me across the years. As strange as it sounds, his anger taught me perseverance; his lack of self-control taught me the value of self discipline; his alcoholism taught me to take care of and respect my body; and, his hatred taught me to love.

I would like to state right here and now, when a mistake is made it's hard to undo. The criminal justice system does not have very good remedies for errors... It was a hell of a lot of people that took to unbuild a simple mistake that occurred in the local precinct when my son was first arrested.