Activist: Death penalty no solution, urges forgiveness

By Louis Medina
Diversity Institute Fellow

03.27.06

Printer-friendly page

Hector Black held back tears Monday as he spoke to a group of Belmont University students about how he forgave the man who murdered his adoptive daughter.

Black used his own experience to help explain why he opposes the death penalty during a talk sponsored by Amnesty International. His daughter's killer is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

"The death penalty is revenge, pure and simple," Black said. "Nothing, nothing can make up for what you lost."

The 81-year-old farmer from Jackson County said he began writing letters to Ivan Simpson, who was convicted of the November 2000 murder of Patricia Nuckles, because "when you love someone very much, you really want to know what their last hour was like."

In discovering the details of Nuckles' death, Black also got to know Simpson.

Black said he learned that Simpson was born to a schizophrenic who tried to drown him when he was 8, became addicted to crack in his 20s and began stealing to support his addiction. Simpson was 35 when he killed the 43-year-old Nuckles after she surprised him burglarizing her Atlanta home.

Black said Simpson was "an easy mark" for the death penalty.

"He had nobody. He was off the street," said Black, who asked the judge to sentence Simpson to life in prison. "He had no powerful friends…You don't find wealthy people on death row."

That conclusion was shared by Alex Wiesendanger, associate director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, who also spoke at Monday's event.

Wiesendanger said that of the 103 people currently on death row, "not a single one could afford an attorney." He argued that the criminal justice system disproportionately targets the poor, the non-white and the mentally ill for the death penalty.

This form of punishment exists, Wiesendanger said, because people want revenge instead of healing.

"Healing is a process," he said. "It's not an event. No single event will make (someone's death) OK."

A year after Nuckles' murder, Black said he still was not sure he had forgiven Simpson.

But after the sentencing, Simpson apologized, saying, "I am so sorry for the pain I have caused," Black said. A court worker later told Black that type of remorse was very rare.

Caroline Cowan, assistant group coordinator for Amnesty International at Belmont and a senior sociology major, said she hoped Monday's event would help inform other students.

"I feel that many people who go to Belmont are pro death penalty just because their parents are," she said. "It's a pretty conservative campus."

Related

Articles by Winter 2006 Diversity Institute Fellows
Collection of Articles by Winter 2006 Diversity Institute Fellows  03.31.06