Sensational headlines don’t lead to deeper truths. Most of the time, they simply lead you far away from both the human and divine. If you want to know the truth, you’ve got to come close. This is an invitation. The Execution Intervention Project is about bringing people close. I want people to know the cost of the death penalty, so that they might understand the cost of fighting it. For decades, I’ve financed and done this work alone. Recently,... Read more
Lisa Jo Chamberlin: Hope for Life in Mississippi On March 20, 2024, Lisa Jo Chamberlin participated in a gruesome murder. Fueled by drugs and rage, Lisa Jo’s boyfriend Roger Gillett masterminded the killing of his cousin Vernon Hulett and Hulett’s girlfriend Linda Heintzelman, due to their forcing Lisa Jo and Gillett to move out of their home, where they’d been for a few weeks. First, Gillett slashed the throat of Hulett and and beat him to death. Then,... Read more
Innocence Taken From Him Tony Ford was just 18. On an evening in December of 1991, he picked up two brothers, Van and Victor Belton, and drove them to a nearby house. He waited in the truck while they went inside. The brothers broke in and got into a heated argument with an 18-year-old named Armando Murillo, his mother and two sisters were left unharmed. Tony knew they were there to settle a debt but had no idea the level... Read more
Jonathan Stephenson: On the Execution of Due Process in TN Surely, there should be a conviction in order to place a conviction on someone’s record, right? Obviously, not in Tennessee. The story of Jonathan Stephenson is one of the stranger legal tales I have encountered. Due to a wild series of twists and turns, Tennessee is trying to execute someone who literally doesn’t have a legal conviction on their record. This is not about the ins and... Read more
Michael Bane: An Innocent Man on Death Row in Tennessee On November 19, 1988, police found the body of Royce D. Frazier, age 60, lying in a bathtub full of water in his home near Memphis, Tennessee. It was assumed that the body had been there for a few days. Frazier had been gagged; a plastic bag had been placed over his head; and an electrical cord was tied around his neck. A plunger had been placed over his... Read more
Ronson Bush was raised in Chickasha, Oklahoma, in a tight-knit family. Like most country boys, he has a special bond with his mom. He also has a younger brother and sister he was especially close to. He spent many hours of his childhood on his father’s farm, where he developed a deep love for horses—riding them, training them, and forming the kind of bond that only comes from long hours in the saddle. His parents eventually divorced, but the... Read more
Jason Stephens, Robert Sparrow III & a Hot Car Accident Hyperthermia is a deadly condition that occurs when an individual’s body temperature rises to levels beyond normal due to excessive heat. Basically, the body produces more heat than it dissipates. I was a child the first time I ever heard of such a condition. One of the local community organizations was conducting a training to warn kids and their parents about the dangers of hot cars. I... Read more
Shawna Forde: From Minuteman to Convict to Prison Saint Following Jesus is a dangerous business. Often, one is taken to places they could have never imagined. I recently went to such a place. You see, Shawna Forde was the organizer and leader of Minutemen American Defense, which patrolled Arizona’s border with Mexico. Forde and a variety of others participated in such activity with a firm belief that their actions were keeping people safe from the consequences of drug... Read more
Each year, I construct a Lenten journey centered on various manifestations of the last words of people who have been executed. This year, I used the last words of the last 40 people executed in the United States. Each Lenten day centers on one reflecting on the last words of the executed, a brief prompt and a prayer. The version available for sale on Amazon includes pictures of all 40 guys. The version below is a free... Read more
Jesus is Transgender Less than a hundred feet from residences, local authorities discovered the murdered and badly decomposed body of a transgender woman of color. The Dallas Police Department put out a detailed description of the body and asked for help. For weeks, no one had seemed to know who this woman was. Finally, when the woman was identified as 22-year-old Ms. Shade Schuler, I realized she’d been forgotten. Nobody seemed to care that a crime of hate... Read more
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