April/May96
Dead Man Walking
A PANEL OF THREE FAMILY MEMBERS of murder victims discussed
their reactions to the extraordinary film Dead Man Walking,
made from Sister Helen Prejean's memoir of work on Louisiana's death row.
On Friday evening, January 26, Paul Hartley, Jeanette Star, and Teresa Mathis
shared their own feelings of loss, their attempts to heal over the years,
and their conviction that the death penalty fails to bring satisfaction
or relief from pain.
Paul Hartley praised Tom Robbins, who wrote the script and directed the
film to bring Prejean's deepest convictions to life: "He had to be
interested in more than money or a Hollywood production." Some people
were surprised that the film-and the book-covered the reactions of victims'
families so extensively. Said Paul, "We must see the whole picture-from
the point of view of victims as well as murderers-to understand the death
penalty." When Susan Sarandon, as Helen, repeats, "I've never
done this before," she isn't trying to make excuses, he said; she is
feeling her way, from the inside, trying to respect every person, rather
than react with outside notions or dogma.
Paul believes that, even if the prisoner does not repent, we must not respond
to an injury with another injury, or evil always wins. Regardless of what
kind of people they are, we must deal with what we are. And, as Prejean
says, we must not judge people by their very worst act. There are other
aspects of their characters and lives we may know nothing about.
Jeanette Star recalled a visit Prejean made to Seattle some years ago and
how useful Prejean's message was to her when her fiance was killed. Jeanette's
opposition to the death penalty was affirmed, not shaken, by her loss. She
began visiting prisons and now heads WCAPD's Death Row Project, going to
Walla Walla every couple of months. The project is about people, she says,
and the people who love them, their mothers, their children. Those who are
considered "unworthy" need our compassion the most. In the film,
Helen says after her first meeting with the murderer Poncelet, "I don't
know if I like him." Poncelet, played with extraordinary insight by
Sean Penn, rejects Helen's first offers of friendship. It takes great patience
to overcome the barriers he erects, but he needs respect and comes to realize
that she believes everyone deserves respect.
Jeanette was shocked at the intense hatred which came from the screaming
pro-death people at Walla Walla when Charles Campbell was hanged. And she
was shocked when she attended a workshop on victim-offender mediation and
the speaker called out for the death penalty and lengthy prison terms. Jeanette
challenged the speaker: "Aren't you short-changing victims by making
them think they need longer sentences?" Jeanette expressed outrage
that victims were offered a "retribution pill" for their healing
instead of true support in the form of counseling and acknowledgment of
their loss.
Teresa Mathis had seen Cry the Beloved Country just before Dead
Man Walking, and wanted to talk about anger. In Cry, the father
of the murdered man is able to act nobly and reasonably, as we believe is
fitting. In Dead Man, the victims' families are not so sympathetic-in
fact they seem rather ugly in their anger. They aren't "good"
victims, as we idealize that role. In the "liberal" mind, the
victim's survivors are supposed to be responsible and composed, ready to
put the rights of others first. But Teresa knows an angry and vengeful reaction
is natural, and also knows that what she really needs is not revenge, but
acknowledgment of her loss. She was offended when her supervisor assured
her, on return from bereavement leave, "Don't worry-no one knows why
you were gone." And she is hurt when people want to know whether she
thinks her brother's murderer should have got a longer sentences, as though
that would help her family. When we say that families "deserve"
the execution of the tiny minority of murderers who are sentenced to death,
what are we saying about the many thousands of families whose loved ones
were not accorded death? Are they less worthy? Do they suffer less?
Tim Ford commented that we cannot "go to the legislature for comfort"
to heal our wounds, but must work on a personal level. He pointed out that
many prisoners who might have repented of their crimes are given no opportunity
to atone within prisons; they are forced into more hateful attitudes. And
he told how John Albert Taylor, who had that day been executed by firing
squad in Utah, had converted to Catholicism in his last few weeks. Tim had
called Sister Prejean to ask her to speak to Taylor, who refused to carry
on his appeals and wished to die. Tim had thought Helen might speak to Taylor
about the laws of the Catholic Church and suicide, but instead she told
Taylor," I will be your friend for the rest of your life. I will always
be there for you." But Taylor did not appeal, and he died.
One member of the audience believed we had to press for abolition of the
death penalty. She thought the polls show wide but shallow support for capital
punishment and much ignorance about what it really means. She was grateful
to the panel for their human responses as victims, in contrast to the harsh
testimony she has been hearing from other victims' families before the legislature
in Olympia.
-Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Winter Newsletter 1996