|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
BTL:As Connecticut Plans First Execution in 45 Years; Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation Opposes Death Penalty |
Current rating: 0 |
by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
Email: betweenthelines (nospam) snet.net (verified)
Address: BETWEEN THE LINES c/o WPKN Radio 89.5 FM Bridgeport, Connecticut |
05 Feb 2005
|
|
Interview with pacifist and activist Art Laffin, member of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, conducted by Melinda Tuhus |
As Connecticut Plans First Execution in 45 Years; Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation Opposes Death Penalty
Interview with pacifist and activist Art Laffin, member of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
Last week, serial killer and rapist Michael Ross almost came very close to being the first person executed in Connecticut -- and all of New England -- in 45 years. After spending 17 years on death row, Ross had dropped his voluntary appeals and convinced judges, lawyers and psychiatrists that he was competent to choose death. But his execution has been postponed several times due to court intervention. The most recent delay in carrying out the death sentence occurred on Jan. 31 after Ross' attorney, T. R. Paulding, filed motions in state and federal court asking for a new hearing on his client's competency based on new and significant evidence.
Death penalty abolitionists, who have been organizing against the execution for the past three months, gathered at a church near the maximum security prison where Ross was to receive a lethal injection at 2:01 a.m. on Jan. 29. They came to pray, sing and listen to speakers who stated their view that the state-sponsored taking of human life is wrong.
One of the speakers was Art Laffin, a lifelong pacifist and activist with the Catholic Worker movement and a member of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation. He explains his reaction to his brother's murder and why, despite his personal loss, he continues to believe that capital punishment is wrong. This interview was conducted shortly before Michael Ross's execution was postponed, when Laffin still expected the death sentence to be carried out.
Visit the Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation's website at: www.mvfr.org
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:
http://www.btlonline.org
*
"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit: http://www.btlonline.org
*
"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising months of April and October).
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Weekly Summary" which features a RealAudio link to the week's program for Between The Lines, send an email to btlsummary-subscribe (at) lists.riseup.net
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A" which features a RealAudio link and weekly transcript to one of the interviews featured on Between The Lines, send an email to btlqa-subscribe (at) lists.riseup.net
*
betweenthelines (at) snet.net
*
http://www.squeakywheel.net/
*
Distributed by Squeaky Wheel Productions
©2005 Between The Lines. All Rights Reserved. |
See also:
http://www.btlonline.org
http://www.btlonline.org
|
This work is in the public domain |
