As calls to end death penalty in SC continue to mount, activists speak out

(WCIV) — A statewide coalition of South Carolinians called for abolishing the death penalty Saturday in North Charleston.

Death row survivors, families of murder victims, and activists gathered at Cokesbury United Methodist Church in North Charleston to share information about the death penalty in South Carolina and discuss alternative solutions. Activists shared South Carolina’s long history with racially-charged lynchings and victims families shared how crime and incarceration has shaped their lives.

Reymond Patterson, a death row survivor currently on parole, gave attendees a glimpse of what his life was like while he was on death row and shared his journey to life on parole. Patterson advocated for ending the use of the death penalty and said he hoped that sharing his story could help change the minds of lawmakers, saying:

I can’t change your opinion on how you feel and everything, you know, only thing I can do is give you a little enlightenment on some of the things you know, and give you a little bit of experience of what the systems about and everything, and the struggles that we all face day by day, you know?

Reymond Patterson, death row survivor currently on parole (Photo: WCIV)

Activists said the death penalty removes the opportunity for redemption for inmates, in addition to being discriminatory. They added that innocent people have been wrongfully executed in our state and that death is not justice, but the least effective way for victims to heal.

Those advocates for the death penalty’s repeal also added that the practice is a financial burden on the state, arguing that those tax dollars should be reallocated to helping curb crime in South Carolina’s communities.

After a 13-year hiatus, the State of South Carolina resumed executions for death row inmates when Freddie Owens was executed by lethal injection.

Calls for the repeal of the death penalty nationwide rose in September after Owens’ execution in South Carolina and the execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri.

Williams was convicted in 1998 for murder, allegedly stabbing and killing a woman during a burglary. His attorneys raised serious questions about the jury selected for his initial trial and how the evidence in the case was handled. Relatives of the victims family also called for his sentence to be commuted.

“The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live,” Williams clemency petition stated. “Marcellus’ execution is not necessary.”

Williams was executed on Sept. 24.

On Oct. 10, religious leaders from across the state gathered at the South Carolina statehouse to petition Gov. Henry McMaster and other state leaders to end the practice, appealing to their spiritual morality.Cokesbury United Methodist Church Rev. Brian Pigford spoke, asking:

Governor McMaster and South Carolina state legislators, if none of my previous words have spoken to your hearts, I ask you to reflect on this simple question on some of the buttons some of us are wearing right now – ‘Who would Jesus execute?

Death row survivor Reymond Patterson looks on at a photo of SC death row inmate Richard Moore. (Photo:WCIV)

South Carolina’s next scheduled execution is set for Nov. 1, with Richard Moore the inmate next in line.

Moore’s lawyers have appealed to remove clemency decisions for his case from Gov. McMaster and grant them to a parole board, saying McMaster cannot fairly consider the inmate’s request given his history as the state’s lead prosecutor who oversaw lawyers fighting to uphold Moore’s sentence.

No South Carolina governor has granted clemency in the modern era of the death penalty.

Despite the outspoken calls to end the practice in South Carolina, some still believe the penalty fits the crime. Former South Carolina solicitor and state senator Greg Hembree advocated for keeping the death penalty, saying he believed capital punishment was an overall good for the justice system.