US Bishops protest over number of executions in Florida

Archbishop Wenski

Catholic Church leaders in Georgia have appealed for clemency for one prisoner, due to be executed tonight, and protested over the large increase in the number of executions in the State recently - about one every three months.

The Archbishop of Miami, Mgr Thomas Wenski and five Bishops of Florida, have sent a letter to Governor Rick Scott, asking him to stop the execution of Robert Waterhouse, commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

"This measure would manifest the belief in the unique dignity of each individual and the sanctity of human life. It would acknowledge God as Lord of life and be more consistent with the spirit of the Gospel," said the letter, which is dated 13 February, 2012.

Robert Waterhouse's execution is set for tonight, February 15, at 23 GMT time, in Starke Prison, north of the state of Florida, on an order signed by Governor Scott last January.

The letter expresses the Bishops' concern for the planned increase of the executions: from August 2011 one every three months. In the letter the Bishops ask the governor to refrain from signing new death sentences.

"We ask to study what they do in other states where there are other options (but not the death of a prisoner) to reach the goal of protecting society and punishing the criminal," they say.

The defense filed an appeal last week against Waterhouse's execution, but the US Supreme Court has not yet ruled. Florida has executed 71 inmates since the death penalty was restored in the State, in 1976, and this is the third signed by Governor Scott since January 2011.

Source: Fides