By Elizabeth Backstrom
When Pat McCoy’s sister Kathy Lu McCoy was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1974 by Harry Brooks, the family reeled from the violent nature of the crime, and struggled to accept what had happened.
“The crime was shockingly brutal, and it’s still very hard to accept emotionally that the last several hours of her life were hell on earth,” McCoy writes in a testimony for the Texas chapter of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation.
“[But] Mr. Brooks was apprehended quickly and remains in prison. Our family opposed capital punishment, and Kathy Lu’s death didn’t change that, especially since she opposed it herself,” McCoy continues.
McCoy and many families like his belong to nationwide organization Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR), an advocacy group led by family members of both murder victims and those executed via the death penalty. The group is against capital punishment. It was founded in 1976 in response to the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States as an effort to fight against the measure and to provide a meeting place for a group of people who often feel they are not heard elsewhere — families of murder victims who don’t want to see perpetrators executed.
MVFR opposes the death penalty for a variety of reasons, according to Jason Ortiz, a campaign strategist who has been with the group since March 2014 and coordinates local and national advocacy efforts, as well as maintaining the group’s websites and databases.
“My personal opinion as a strategist is that capital punishment simply does not work at achieving the goals of reducing crime or achieving justice. As a means to achieve a more just society, capital punishment is too riddled with inconsistencies and too open to abuse that is brings more harm into our communities than it prevents,” Ortiz said.
The group also says the death penalty is expensive — more so than even the high cost of life in prison, and is also often applied with disparity to minorities and the poor.
“It was something that I saw was only applied to individuals from marginalized communities,” Ortiz said. “Not once have I heard of a millionaire getting the death penalty.”
While 55 percent of Americans still support the death penalty (and 37 percent oppose it) according to a 2013 Pew research poll, that number has declined since 2011, when it was 62 percent.
A recent study by the Seattle Times, funded by a grant from the American Civil Liberties Union, supports the cost findings — after reviewing 147 first-degree murder cases in Washington state, they found the average cost of a death penalty case to be about $3 million, as opposed to life in prison, which cost $2 million.
Aside from issues of cost and uneven application, not all families of murder victims support the death penalty, which Ortiz said is one of the biggest misconceptions he’s seen surrounding the issue.
“MVFR members have many varied reasons why they do not [support it],” he said. “Some have objections based on their faith, some based on their desire to do no further harm, some because they believe the justice system is inherently racist.”
A bill currently before the Washington State Legislature calls for the abolishment of capital punishment in the state, to be replaced with life in prison without parole. HB 1739 is supported by a bipartisan group of legislators, including Rep. Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla, and Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle. A companion Senate bill, SB 5639, is also in the works.
MVFR is hosting a public meeting tonight, Feb. 5, at Spokane’s Unitarian Universalist Church at 6:30, and a roundtable brown bag lunch meeting tomorrow, Feb. 6. Jason Ortiz and Pat McCoy are among speakers at the event, which is open to anyone looking for support or interested in advocating or learning more.
“We hope to be a resource for others who may have lost a loved one to violence and are looking for a supportive community. If some folks out there hear about our event and find comfort from joining our community, then we will have been successful,” Ortiz said.
If you go:
Public event: Unitarian Universalist Church, 6:30 p.m., Thursday Feb. 5
Roundtable brown bag lunch: Community Building, 35 W. Main, Noon, Friday Feb. 6
