The Deacon's Bench
From The Georgia Bulletin:
The State of Georgia executed Warren Lee Hill, who had received the sacraments of the Catholic Church while on death row, the evening of Jan. 27.
Hill, sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a fellow inmate, died by lethal injection. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his application for a stay of execution earlier that day.
Hill’s original prison sentence was a life term for the killing of his girlfriend.
In the years leading up to the execution, Hill had been granted reprieves from execution as attorneys representing him challenged Georgia’s Lethal Injections Secrecy Act and also brought forward evaluations that Hill’s sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment due to mental retardation.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the death penalty cannot be applied if an inmate is mentally retarded, but left it to each state to determine how that standard is met. Georgia has the highest such standard to meet of any state.
Deacon Richard Tolcher baptized Hill on Feb. 14, 2013, the culmination of their meeting regularly since the fall of 2012. The deacon taught him about prayer, sacraments and the Catholic faith. The late Father Austin Fogarty, who regularly celebrated Mass at the prison, gave Hill his first Communion the same day and then confirmed him with the permission of Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory.
“Archbishop Gregory heard his confession about a month ago,” said Deacon Tolcher.
Hill asked Deacon Norm Keller and Deacon Tolcher to witness his execution. Although Hill declined offering any last words, he did want a prayer said.
Throughout the evening of the execution, Deacon Tolcher kept Archbishop Gregory and Bishop David Talley apprised of developments. Bishop Talley celebrates Mass for death row inmates each month.
Deacon Tolcher had also been meeting with Brannan, convicted of killing a police officer, in his final days. Brannan asked the deacon to witness his death and called his name out as he was dying.
“All of them sought and begged for forgiveness from the victims’ families. None of them said, ‘I didn’t do it,’” said Deacon Tolcher. “Each of them faced their execution in full confidence of their faith.”
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him…
Photo: Georgia Department of Corrections
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