A small group of protestors gathered outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary amidst a constant drizzle this morning to voice their opposition against the execution of longtime death row inmate Carey Dean Moore.
Father Justin Wylie of Lincoln was one of those protestors.
“Tuesday is the day that Lincoln does its killing,” Wylie said. “Most Tuesdays find me praying my rosary in front of Planned Parenthood, where the executions take place, this Tuesday finds me in front of the state penitentiary for the same reasons.”
Anti-death penalty protestors began to file into the parking lot of the state penitentiary shortly after 8 a.m. It was a somber setting for the 20 or so protestors. Some came with posters, like Matthew Rehwaldt, whose poster read “NOT IN MY NAME.” Others came to pray for Moore as his death drew closer.
“I’m here to pray for mercy for those who are killed and for those who have killed them,” Wylie said.
A man stands outside the penitentary parking lot, silently praying. (Photo by Noah Johnson, NET News)
Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Outreach Coordinator Matt Maly said Tuesday’s execution is an example of “bad policy” being put to work.
“We've given up a whole lot to get to this execution,” Maly said. “We've wasted millions of tax payer dollars, we've put victims’ families through almost four decades of pain and suffering and we've completely abandoned Nebraska's commitment to open and transparent government, and the important question is to what end? What will this really get us?”
Rev. Royal Carleton of the Inclusive Life Center in Omaha was another one of the small group of protestors who came to speak out against Moore’s execution.
"Today we're killing someone who killed someone to teach other people that killing people is wrong, and I just think there is a big oxymoron in that,” Carleton said.
Moore was declared dead at 10:47 a.m. Tuesday morning, ending his 38-year-stay on death row and making him the first man in the state’s history to be executed by lethal injection.
Carleton said he hopes Moore’s death will unify Nebraskans’ views on the death penalty.
"I hope that we can come back to the center of a time when we all can agree as citizens that executing other people is wrong and we are better than that in the state of Nebraska and that we can, once and for all, abolish the death penalty in this state."