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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ministers Set Prayer Service For Paradis

From Staff And Wire Reports

Religious leaders with widely differing views on the death penalty will come together Sunday in a service for Death Row inmate Donald Paradis.

The service was organized and will be hosted by Tom Blackburn, minister at Community Christian Center in Garden City. He has visited Paradis nearly every week for a dozen years and is convinced of his innocence.

Paradis was convicted of killing 19-year-old Kimberly Ann Palmer in 1980. He could become the next inmate to be executed in Idaho.

“If we’re dependent on the power of God to bring the truth out, we better alert the religious community,” Blackburn said. “It’s a way of calling attention to the problem.”

Eleven religious leaders will participate in the service. Some, like Blackburn, support capital punishment but believe Paradis is innocent. Others come from denominations such as Episcopalian, which adamantly oppose the death penalty.

Rabbi Dan Fink, who said he is ambivalent on capital punishment, is participating because in any capital case people should err on the side of caution.

“I’m not prepared to say Paradis is innocent,” Fink said, “But as this case develops, there is enough doubt and enough new evidence that the case ought to be reconsidered.”

Paradis has denied any role in Palmer’s strangulation. And other witnesses who did not testify at his trial said another man killed Palmer in Spokane - not Idaho.

Paradis is scheduled for a hearing before the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Paroles May 15.

, DataTimes