March 12, 2015
Dear Senator,
I’m writing to you as a murder victims’ family member to encourage you to support LB 268 to replace the death
penalty with life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
Last week I came to the Capitol with many other individuals who have lost loved ones to murder so we could
all speak out against the death penalty. Enclosed is the letter from 25 of us articulating how our experiences
have shown us that the death penalty is a policy that fails victims’ families. It fails to bring us swift or certain
resolution to our cases, and instead entrenches us in a painful and seemingly never-ending legal process. One
woman with us last week told the horrifying ordeal her family has been through waiting 30 years for the
execution they were promised. By keeping families trapped in this legal process, the death penalty delays their
ability to move forward with healing. All the resources we spend on one or two cherry-picked death penalty
cases would be better invested in victims’ services to benefit all of us.
What’s more, capital punishment creates painful divides between families when individuals are not on the same
page about this controversial punishment. And the rhetoric around the issues creates a false and painful
distinction between those crimes called “the worst of the worst” and the vast majority of us who have lost
someone and then the case wasn’t a capital case. I have lost three loved ones to murder and it was only
considered capital “worthy” in one instance. I assure you, to our families, all of these losses were the “worst of
the worst”. It’s painful that we insist otherwise in order to justify the arbitrary way the death penalty is applied.
I am glad that the press thoroughly covered our stories. Our call for repeal appeared in local papers like the
Lincoln Journal Star, Omaha World Herald, Grand Island Independent, and the Beatrice Daily Sun, and on
news stations throughout the state like KETV, WOWT, KPTM, KLKN, KLIN, KNOP, and NTV. We were
even in an online story for Time Magazine! I’m grateful for this coverage because I believe our perspective is
one that is often lost in the debate about the death penalty, and as those most directly affected by this policy, our
voices matter.
Thank you so much for signing on as a supporter of LB 268 — I believe strongly that this bill is the right move
for Nebraska and the right thing for murder victims’ families like mine.
I would be more than happy to speak with you further about this.
Sincerely,
