Religious leaders and those impacted by capital punishment stood together to speak out against Nebraska’s death penalty. Their message is the government doesn't need to take a life to protect society.
The group included family members of murder victims and people who have been executed, death row exonerees, and religious leaders from across Nebraska. The event is sponsored by Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and Journey of Hope.
May 2015, the Nebraska State Legislature voted to repeal the law, but Governor Pete Ricketts then vetoed the bill. Then the Unicameral overrides his veto.
Derrick Jamison spent twenty years in prison for murder in Ohio before new evidence exonerated him. He says he doesn't want to see any innocent man executed.
"We've got a thing called life without parole we need to use it because if you make a mistake with life without parole you could go free this man, but if you make a mistake with the death penalty you can't get a man out of his grave and say oops my bad," Jamison explained.
Since the override, Nebraskans for the Death Penalty collected enough signatures to ask for the repeal to be repealed on the November ballot.
"I don't think Nebraskans are going to be swayed by a group of people coming in from outside of the state telling stories that don't have anything to do with Nebraska's death penalty law," said Rod Edwards, State Director of Nebraskans for the Death Penalty.
Friday's event kicked off a 10-day, 20-city tour across the state of Nebraska to spread the word to end the death penalty.
For a full list of the statewide tour schedule visit: http://nadp.net/journey-of-hope-from-violence-to-healing/
