Inspired by the case of Robin ​“Rocky” Myers (pic­tured), an intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and pos­si­bly inno­cent Alabama death row pris­on­er whom an elect­ed state judge sen­tenced to death despite a 9 – 3 jury rec­om­men­da­tion for life, a pan­el of faith lead­ers gath­ered in Montgomery, Alabama to dis­cuss reli­gious views on the death penal­ty and the inter­sec­tion of faith and jus­tice. Before the dis­cus­sion began, the faith lead­ers and the audi­ence viewed a screen­ing of a new doc­u­men­tary on Myers’ case describ­ing why his lawyers believe he is inno­cent. The doc­u­men­tary explained that no foren­sic evi­dence links Myers to the crime and that the pros­e­cu­tion wit­ness who iden­ti­fied him has since recant­ed his tes­ti­mo­ny. Myers’ case also high­lights oth­er prob­lems in the death penal­ty sys­tem. A neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist who eval­u­at­ed Myers diag­nosed him with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty, a con­di­tion that would make him inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion, but courts have not grant­ed him relief. His dis­abil­i­ty hin­dered Myers’ oppor­tu­ni­ties to have his appeals heard. His attor­ney aban­doned him with­out notice, and Myers, who can­not read, did not know his appeal dead­lines had expired until a fel­low inmate read him a noti­fi­ca­tion let­ter from the state. Finally, Myers’ jury vot­ed 9 – 3 that he should be sen­tenced to life, but — in a prac­tice no state oth­er than Alabama still allows— the tri­al judge over­rode the jury’s rec­om­men­da­tion and sen­tenced Myers to death. After the film pre­sent­ed Myers’ sto­ry, lead­ers from a vari­ety of faith tra­di­tions led a dis­cus­sion about jus­tice and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The mul­ti-faith pan­el includ­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and fea­tured Rabbi Elliot Stevens, Sister Gilda Marie Bell, a Catholic nun of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and Aya Zaied, a youth leader for the East Montgomery Islamic Society. Zaied sum­ma­rized Islamic views on the issue, say­ing, ​“If you claim Islam, … then jus­tice is your respon­si­bil­i­ty. We try to teach that to our chil­dren real­ly young so they under­stand if (some­one is) hurt­ing, then I’m hurt­ing. We’re all in this together.”

(K. Davis, ​“Faith lead­ers, com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers dis­cuss their role in jus­tice,” Montgomery Advertiser, January 12, 2017; K. Armstrong, ​“When lawyers stum­ble, only their clients fall,” The Washington Post, November 16, 2014.) See Myers’ attor­neys’ web­site urging clemency.

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