Victims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania who may have lost a loved one because of the actions of Charles Cullen, a nurse charged with mul­ti­ple killings, have voiced sup­port for spar­ing Cullen the death penal­ty in exchange for his agree­ing to pro­vide infor­ma­tion on vic­tims. New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey and sev­en pros­e­cu­tors in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania con­sult­ed with the vic­tims’ fam­i­lies in decid­ing whether to seek the death penal­ty. ​“It means more for me to have the infor­ma­tion than to have him put to death,” said Kristina Toth, whose father died in 1998 of a heart med­ica­tion over­dose that has been linked to Cullen. Lucille Gall, anoth­er victim’s fam­i­ly mem­ber who feels that putting Cullen to death would leave too many fam­i­ly mem­bers won­der­ing whether he killed their loved one, not­ed, ​“I don’t believe in the death penal­ty because I don’t think it solves any­thing. It’s a chicken’s way out.” (The News Ledger, March 27, 2004) See Victims.

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