Victims’ Families Remain Divided on Federal Death Penalty

Recent atten­tion on the fed­er­al death penal­ty is high­light­ing the diverse opin­ions of vic­tims’ fam­i­lies who have lost loved ones to vio­lence. Like Americans from all walks of life, vic­tims’ fam­i­lies hold a diverse set of views on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, shaped by their indi­vid­ual faith, polit­i­cal views, and per­son­al reac­tion to being impact­ed by crime. 

Some sup­port the death penal­ty, and oth­ers oppose it. Some vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers are part of orga­ni­za­tions like Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, which uses ​“pub­lic edu­ca­tion, advo­ca­cy, and orga­niz­ing” to ​“ampli­fy the voic­es of vic­tims’ fam­i­lies who oppose the death penal­ty and pro­vide anti-death penal­ty cam­paigns with vic­tims’ unique­ly compelling testimony.” 

In 2019, as the first Trump admin­is­tra­tion pre­pared to resume fed­er­al exe­cu­tions after a 16-year hia­tus, Earlene Branch Peterson issued a pub­lic plea for President Donald Trump to grant clemen­cy for Daniel Lewis Lee, who was on death row for the mur­der of Ms. Peterson’s daugh­ter, son-in-law, and grand­daugh­ter. ​“Yes, Daniel Lee dam­aged my life, but I can’t believe tak­ing his life is going to change any of that. I can’t see how exe­cut­ing Daniel Lee will hon­or my daugh­ter in any way. In fact, it’s kind of like it dirt­ies her name, because she wouldn’t want it and I don’t want it. That’s not the way it should be. That’s not the God I serve,” Ms. Peterson said. 

Mr. Lee was exe­cut­ed on July 14, 2020, dur­ing the height of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. ​“We have spo­ken out that this is not some­thing we want­ed,” said Monica Veillette, a cousin and niece of the vic­tims. ​“Over and over it’s been said that it’s being done for my aunt and cousin, it’s being done for our fam­i­ly. And in the end, they com­plete­ly dismissed us.” 

Rev. Sharon Risher, whose moth­er and two cousins were killed in the mass shoot­ing at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, has become an out­spo­ken advo­cate against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Though President Biden com­mut­ed 37 fed­er­al death sen­tences, he left three peo­ple on death row, includ­ing Dylann Roof, who was con­vict­ed of the Charleston church shoot­ing. Rev. Risher said she sup­port­ed clemen­cy for Mr. Roof. ​“I need the President to under­stand that when you put a killer on death row, you also put their vic­tims’ fam­i­lies in lim­bo with the false promise that we must wait until there is an exe­cu­tion before we can begin to heal,” she said in a state­ment in December 2024. 

In some cas­es, indi­vid­u­als affect­ed by the same crime dis­agree about the appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment. Daryl Lawrence was sen­tenced to death for killing Columbus, Ohio police offi­cer Bryan Hurst in 2005. He received clemen­cy in 2024. Officer Hurst’s wid­ow, Marissa Gibson, said in a state­ment to the Columbus Dispatch, ​“While this is tru­ly dis­tress­ing news on a per­son­al lev­el for my fam­i­ly, it also feels like a com­plete dis­missal and under­min­ing of the fed­er­al jus­tice sys­tem.” Meanwhile, Officer Hurst’s police part­ner, Donnie Oliverio, sup­port­ed clemen­cy, say­ing, ​“Putting to death the per­son who killed my police part­ner and best friend would have brought me no peace. The President has done what is right here, and what is con­sis­tent with the faith he and I share.” In the case of Payton Gendron, who is fac­ing a pos­si­ble fed­er­al death sen­tence for killing 10 peo­ple at the Buffalo Tops super­mar­ket, fam­i­lies are ​“split” on the appro­pri­ate­ness of a death sen­tence, accord­ing to attor­ney Terry Connors. Michelle Fryson, whose aunt and cousin were killed in the Buffalo shoot­ing, said, ​“Never did I ever wish that he would have death penal­ty. Conversely, I was hop­ing that he would be able to take some time to process things for a very long time.” 

Attorney General Pam Bondi has made repeat­ed state­ments in sup­port of President Trump’s agen­da for increased use of the death penal­ty as a way of sup­port­ing vic­tims fam­i­lies. But less than two weeks ago, the admin­is­tra­tion announced sig­nif­i­cant cuts to vic­tims’ ser­vices orga­ni­za­tions. ​“We’re shocked that an admin­is­tra­tion that claims to care about pro­tect­ing vic­tims would leave so many vul­ner­a­ble Americans with­out access to an essen­tial life­line,” said Renée Williams, CEO of the National Center for Victims of Crime.