CUTV News Radio Spotlights Death Penalty Abolitionist Gail Rice

Palos Heights, IL – In 1997, Gail Rice’s life changed radically when her brother, Bruce VanderJagt, a Denver policeman, was murdered by a skinhead. The skinhead, Matthaeus Jaehnig, shot Bruce with ten bullets from an assault rifle, killing him instantly. Jaehnig eventually committed suicide with Bruce’s service revolver.

Had Jaehnig lived, he would have been convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Colorado.

One year after the murder, she met the group Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR), a death penalty abolition group for victims’ family members and the family members of those who had been executed or who were on death row.

The risk of executing an innocent person is very real. DNA evidence has led to many exonerations, but it isn’t available in most cases.

“As I studied the issue more, I discovered that there was no evidence that the death penalty was a deterrent to serious crime,” says Rice.

What troubled Rice most, however, was how the death penalty conflicted with her Christian beliefs.

“In my 21 years of abolition work, I’ve never heard one person say, ‘I’m so glad that the execution took place. Now I’m at peace. I finally have closure,’” says Rice. “Instead, they lament the whole process, which has caused them so much pain and misery. The idea that executions help or heal victims’ family members is an absolute lie, and that’s what I will always tell murder victims’ family members as I continue my work to repeal the death penalty in the U.S.”

For more information or to get involved, visit the Death Penalty Information Center at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org and Equal Justice at www.ejusa.org