No Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione : A Spiritual Plea
I’m not a New Yorker, but I write with urgency and a heavy heart. The last person executed in New York was Eddie Lee Mays on August 15, 1963. For decades, New York has stood apart from much of the nation…rejecting the death penalty and affirming that even those who commit the gravest crimes are entitled to due process and the possibility of redemption. That principle is more than law…it’s a moral compass. Today, that compass is being tested. Federal prosecutors want to make sure that New Yorkers sentence Luigi Mangione to death.
The Human Cost
For well over a decade, I’ve served as a spiritual adviser to men on death rows throughout the nation. Repeatedly, I ‘ve walked the cold halls of death…where the condemned wait their turn to be taken to the chamber…listening to confessions, sharing in prayers and searching desperately for humanity in spaces where such a task seems impossible. The battle to stay human amidst the horror is real. But battle we all must. Regardless of circumstance or location, our souls depend on the fight to stay human amidst the inhumane.
On eleven different occasions, I’ve stood in an execution chamber and watched as the government kills someone that I care about. Each one festers. The finality is absolute. The pain is irrevocable. The moral weight of it all…it never leaves you.
I am pleading with New Yorkers…do not let federal prosecutors undermine your commitment to life. This is bigger than one man. Bigger than one case. It is about the ethical mantle you have long held in leading the fight against misplaced ideas of justice that spread the lie that killing can stop the cycle of killing.
Mangione Has Not Had His Day in Court
The Mangione case is horrifying. The murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, shook the city. Throughout the nation, we all felt it too. And yet, despite New York having abolished the death penalty decades ago, federal prosecutors have stepped in and loudly decided to seek a death sentence.
But Mangione has not even had his day in court. He is accused. Judicial proceedings have barely begun. And already, the federal government is pushing us to assume he is guilty and start preparing the execution chamber. It’s easy to look at the available evidence and assume guilt. But that’s not how justice works. We do not execute people based on headlines. That’s dangerous. The death penalty is irreversible. Once carried out, mistakes, biases and misjudgments can never be corrected. Presumption of innocence is sacred. Especially here. It’s also important to remember that life without parole mitigates the irreversible consequences of the death penalty.
No Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione : Protecting Society…and Humanity
Some will say certain crimes demand execution. For years, I’ve lived and breathed among men who committed unspeakable acts. Life without parole protects society just as effectively. It also allows for something execution cannot…reflection and redemption. Guilt and fear consume the condemned. And in many cases, change begins to take root. That possibility ends the moment the state executes someone.
Pursuing the death penalty…in a state that has long rejected the death penalty as an option…sends the wrong message. Justice becomes something swayed by publicity, politics and by the desire for vengeance. Not by principle. Such lunacy is not becoming of New Yorkers.
No Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione : Indeed, if New York lets the federal government kill in its name, then every moral victory it has won against injustice will bleed out on the execution table.
Federal Overreach Threatens Local Values
Here’s the harsh truth…even though New York abolished the death penalty, federal prosecutors can step in. A crime in Manhattan can become a federal crime and suddenly your moral stance is challenged. When federal prosecutors step in and seek death in a state that has abolished it, they are not just testing the law…they’re testing your values. They are asking whether New York still believes what it has long stood for…that a government that can take the lives of its’ citizens is a government that has grown too big.
This should alarm anyone who cares about justice, fairness and integrity. If the federal government succeeds here, it signals that New York’s values are conditional. That abolition is not absolute. That your moral compass can be overridden. It also reveals that the federal government can overrule local values anywhere and everywhere else it desires. Other places throughout the nation will also face the wrath of the federal government in unexpected ways.
A Moral Plea
This is not a political argument. It is a moral one. Abolition is more than a policy…it’s a reflection of commitment to life, humanity and fairness. By upholding a fierce opposition to the death penalty, you protect the integrity of the justice system and the moral fabric of society.
Mangione’s case is high profile. Anger and fear are powerful. But New York’s tradition has always been about resisting those impulses. Justice must not be defined by outrage, media attention or emotion. It must be defined by principle…moral principle.
No Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione : Stand Firm
I have seen the consequences of execution firsthand…lives lost, remorse extinguished, systems compromised and families shattered. I implore New Yorkers to stand firm. Reject the federal pursuit of the death penalty in your home. Honor your tradition. Protect your values. Send a message to the nation…New York will not allow the ultimate punishment to be imposed against its will. Mangione’s case is a test…and it is one New Yorkers must pass.
For if New York stays silent now, it will invite the machinery of death back in…and once it starts moving again, it rarely stops with just one body.
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*If you would like to support the Execution Intervention Project (the organization that financially supports Dr. Hood’s work), click here.
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