Lamentations: On Benjamin Cole (w/ Abe Bonowitz)

October 19, 2022

Benjamin Cole is scheduled to be executed for killing his infant daughter, Brianna, on October 20, 2022

Abe: You were speaking earlier about what these executions remind you of? Do you mind sharing that again?

Jeff: We live in a culture that greatly romanticizes hunting. Set up camp under the cover of darkness. Sleep restlessly on a cot. Get up early. Pour some coffee. Put on your finest camouflage. Find your trusted tree stand. Enjoy the cool morning air. Hear the rustling of leaves in the distance. See the deer approach. Then, pow…

Let me make something clear, I have been a vegetarian most of my life. I hate hunting. But…I did go one time with a friend when I was a young man. That was enough for me. You see, we were sitting out in a camouflage tent. In the distance, I see a wild hog approach. It was clear that the hog was young. The closer it got the more I realized how young it was…easily a small baby with little sense of direction. Before I could react, my friend shot it. When he walked up to it and saw that it wasn’t dead…he shot it again. When we got back home, my friend bragged and bragged about how he had taken down a huge hog that would of destroyed crops and other wildlife. I knew better. There was nothing romantic or just about what I saw.

Abe: So, what’s hunting got to do with executions?

Jeff: We live in a culture that greatly romanticizes executions. Catch the murderer put them on trial. Prove their guilt. Secure the death penalty. Make them suffer through the appeals. Then, kill them with no hesitation. “May God have mercy on your soul” type stuff.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been in contact with a man that was convicted of killing his baby daughter, Benjamin Cole. For decades, Cole has been on death row. To say that his mental condition has deteriorated would be an understatement. Often, when we have talked it is as if he has forgotten who he was talking to mid-conversation. Furthermore, he thinks that he is the messiah and that God is either going to keep him from being executed or resurrect him shortly thereafter. Lastly, he will forcefully repeat scriptures incessantly…until you force him to stop. From my conversations with him, he has very little understanding of what is happening to him or why. This is a man that has the mentality capacity of a child. Yet, Oklahoma is determined to kill him. Let me assure you, there will be nothing romantic or just about any of it.

After the execution is over, there will be the typical bullshit about how everyone is safer now that Benjamin Cole is dead. I know better. I’ve actually talked to the guy. Have you?

There is no question in my mind that this execution isn’t going to be all that different from the first and only time I went hunting…a tremendous amount of blood and bragging…that amounts to nothing more than killing an infantile compromised animal in the woods.

Abe: That’s an interesting connection.

Jeff: Do you see any difference?

Abe: Not really, especially when we’re talking about the execution of these folks who are literally helpless. So often, we hear people talking about the future dangerousness of these guys. Benjamin Cole isn’t a dangerous to anybody. His mind is gone. He can hardly function. I can’t help but wonder if these executions are more about elections than they are about any legitimate government interest. And with the greased rail to the death house the is the US Supreme Court these days, indeed, it is all about politics. Not justice. Not fairness. Not the law.

Jeff: Right.

Lamentations is a series of short reflections derived from a reoccurring conversation that takes place before every scheduled execution in the United States between prominent abolitionists Death Penalty Action Executive Director Abraham Bonowitz and Clergy United Against the Death Penalty Convener Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood.