Two Touched By Controversial Topic

Of all the debates raging in today’s world, few are more divisive than the issue of capital punishment.

As a point of contention, it defies the notion of middle ground. Either you support it or you don’t.

If you or someone you love has been the target of violent crime, you may believe that capital punishment is not only justified but even necessary. Then again, some people hate the very idea of the death penalty - and this is true for people whose experiences bridge both sides of the question.

Take Teresa Mathis and Don Reeves, for example. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Gonzaga University’s Jepson Center Auditorium, they will co-present a public program titled “Left Behind: Victims of Capital Punishment.”

Mathis, the Seattle-based executive director of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, lost her brother to murder in 1983. Reeves, a Nebraska farmer and economic analyst, has a son who was convicted of killing two women and who is now on death row.

Despite their contrasting experiences, both oppose the death penalty.

Mathis, for example, says that she probably is more liberal than her family. Yet, she adds, her family’s reaction to her brother’s death reflected her own anti-capital punishment stance.

“Somebody said to my family group, ‘Don’t you wish the guy who did this could get the death penalty?’ ” Mathis said during a phone interview. “And my mother said, ‘You know, I’ve seen enough killing. I don’t want any more of it.’ “

After Mathis and Reeves tell their respective stories, they’ll answer questions from the audience.

The event which is co-sponsored by the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane and a consortium of other groups as a celebration fo Human Rights Day, is free and open to the public. , DataTimes