BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Faith communities in Boise and Pocatello will host discussions on the death penalty this weekend in an attempt to engage residents in dialogue surrounding the issue as the state’s first execution since 2012 approaches.
Thomas Creech, 73, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Feb. 28. He is Idaho’s longest-serving death row inmate, according to the Associated Press. Creech was already serving time after being convicted of killing two people in Valley County in 1974 when he was sentenced to die for beating a fellow inmate to death with a sock full of batteries in 1981, the AP reported.
According to a news release from Death Penalty Action, this weekend’s “Conversations About the Death Penalty” events will include presentations by SueZann Bosler, the daughter of a murder victim who was herself stabbed and left for dead; Randy Gardner, the brother of the last man executed by firing squad in the United States; and Abraham Bonowitz, a former supporter of the death penalty who now heads Death Penalty Action, the leading anti-death penalty organization in the country.
Community discussion regarding the topic are expected to be part of the presentations as well. The events will be held on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 200 N. 15th Ave. in Pocatello; and Sunday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Rockies, 717 N. 11th St. in Boise.
The event in Boise will be livestreamed on the social media channels of Death Penalty Action and the web page and social media channels of the Cathedral of the Rockies.
Both events are free and open to the public.
“I am grateful for this opportunity for our community to hear from and engage with people who can discuss this issue from their own experiences,” Rev. Mike Conner, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Pocatello, said in the release. “Most of us have a visceral response when we hear about terrible crimes in our communities, but when it comes to a public policy like capital punishment, I think we all owe it to ourselves to take a deeper dive. This is especially true as the state is about to execute a human being in all of our names.”
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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