Letter of Rep. Bob Morris to Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb

Dear Governor Holcomb:

I have been considering a matter that once was resolved in my heart – the matter of Indiana Capital Punishment. I have long supported the right – indeed the obligation – of the State to exact punishment in this extreme form. I always believed that it was the duty of the State to exact on earth a punishment that was just in the context of the committed crime. 

Over the course of the past several months, but especially over the past several weeks, I have been praying about this and I have been reading discourses from church leaders, historic figures, and philosophers. The recent Supreme Court decision to return the matter of abortion to each state and Indiana’s Special Session thereafter resulted in tremendous upheaval in my heart regarding the value of every human life. My view of this issue is driven by my faith. I believe only one position honors Our Lord and Savior, our Creator: to protect all human life.

Human life is sacred. It must be so. It is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God, and each life remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator. But life cannot be sacred in one instance and not sacred in another. If we begin deciding when life is sacred versus when it is not sacred, our culture finds only regret. Committed to the Truth regarding life as sacred, then we should also say that every human life exists by the holy will of God Almighty, and that sacredness extends from the moment of conception until the final natural breath.

But it is more than that. I have been considering the harm caused by the administration of Capital Punishment. Who are the people who transport the prisoner to be executed? Who escorts him to the execution room and seats the prisoner? Who manufactures the drugs that are to be administered? Who fills the syringe? Who injects the poison? Are not each of these unique individuals, by default, pulled into the act of the human execution? Execution is not an anonymous action. It involves many participants. In fact, a state which executes convicted criminals involves every citizen in the execution which is done in their name. This unnecessarily involves those who oppose capital punishment on religious grounds. In our society today, capital punishment of the imprisoned is not necessary in our day for the protection of the innocent citizens.

Furthermore, consider that the specific act of sentencing has changed substantially. In 2002, Indiana made a consequential change to the way in which capital crimes are sentenced. Prior to 2002, a judge alone decided the sentence. After 2002, a jury decided the sentence. I make no claim regarding a jury’s likelihood to sentence a convicted criminal to death. But the resolution of a group of one’s peers, tempered by more than one personal view, should be viewed as a moral improvement. Is the fate of prisoners on Indiana’s Death Row who were sentenced before 2002 marginalized because they were sentenced not by a jury of their peers but by a single man or woman acting as judge? Is their death sentence more or less just as the result of the sentencing process that has since been changed?  

To a degree, I discount this “judge vs. jury” issue because, in the final analysis, one man has no moral right to execute another man who is already subdued, convicted, and safely confined.

Some of the most celebrated writing of Western Civilization, which spans 2,500 years and includes greats such as Augustine of Hippo to John Paul II, agrees with the following: if a prisoner can be reliably confined and if the public is made safe, then execution is not an appropriate sentence. A life in state confinement does not have to be slothful or indulgent. Prisoners can be made to be active, productive, and to have meaningful discourse in a humane existence. This is a manner of punishment that fears God, that honors Him, and that maintains public safety.

I ask you, Governor Holcomb, to protect all Hoosiers from the consequences of error, from the consequences of continuing what was begun by others without thought, and from the irreparable moral damage resulting from imprudence and haste. You are given an opportunity to change course, at least temporarily. I pray that you have the courage and the wisdom to act boldly. If you do nothing more, it is enough to protect human life. All life. Today.

Please, at minimum, delay the execution of all Indiana capital punishment until after the General Assembly has reconvened and has had a chance to consider this grave matter.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Bob Morris

 

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