By The archbishop has regularly urged the state to offer clemency to convicted murderers.
Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley this week lamented Oklahoma’s execution of a condemned murderer, calling for prayers for both the killer’s victims and the killer himself while urging a “more humane form of justice.”
The state on Aug. 13 put to death Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, who was convicted of killing Olimpia Fisher in Oklahoma City in 2003. The execution was carried out at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary shortly after 10 a.m. CT.
Tennessee executed Anthony Darrell Hines, who was convicted of killing Catherine Jenkins in 1985, on Aug. 13, and later that day Alabama planned to execute Jeremy Tremaine Williams for the rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in 2021.
The last time three U.S. states carried out executions on the same day was in 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas put inmates to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In a press release also posted to X, Coakley — who serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — expressed “sadness” over the execution and said he was “disheartened” as Oklahoma “continues along an ominous path.”
The archbishop said the state was “carrying out executions with a frequency and regularity that places it among the nation’s leaders” in capital punishment.
Coakley has regularly urged authorities to end the death penalty. In 2022, after a federal court dismissed a challenge to the state’s capital punishment regime, Coakley called on lawmakers to end executions there. He argued that an execution devalues human life and “does not ultimately bring closure and peace to those who have lost a loved one.”
The archbishop has also repeatedly lamented specific executions in the state, including that of Kendrick Simpson, who was put to death in February.
On Aug. 13, he noted that the execution of Cuesta-Rodriguez constituted the 132nd time Oklahoma has killed someone since 1990.
“Capital punishment does not provide justice,” he said. “Our modern prisons are secure. Life imprisonment offers assurance that citizens are not at risk. And it allows for a conversion of hearts.”
He asked readers to “join me in praying for the victim of this crime, Olimpia Fisher, and her family, as well as Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez and his family.”
Coakley is among the numerous U.S. bishops that regularly advocate against the death penalty. The Death Penalty Information Center says that among the 50 U.S. states since 1976 Oklahoma has had far and away the most executions relative to its population, though Texas has executed nearly five times as many people overall as Oklahoma.
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I can’t imagine any reveling in any execution, but I remain perplexed by the inordinate hysteria surrounding this issue. As Christians we do not view death as extinction. By God’s grace these men, justly convicted, will acquire repentance for their crimes and enjoy the mercy of God for all eternity. Without the prospect of execution, indeed without execution, who knows what would be their lot in prison or what other crimes they would perpetrate there. Without repentance there is reasonable understanding of what lies ahead. It is indeed absolutely tragic that these convicted murderers have brought this consequence upon themselves but justice is served. Hopefully it will bring these men to authentic repentance. Perhaps the prospect and reality of execution will defer others from following the same course.
Let’s pray for them.
“Capital punishment does not provide justice.” Yes, it absolutely does. Our bishops are completely feckless. They do not even pretend to care about Scripture or Tradition.
Coakley says, “Life imprisonment…. allows for a conversion of hearts.”
Yes, life allows for conversion of heart. But our moral life does continue after death, as James reminds above.
Also, the executed men had lifetimes to convert PRIOR to their acts of murder. In addition, the executed men had many years after their crimes to convert. Rodriquez had TWENTY-THREE years to convert AFTER his crime of murder. Hines had FORTY years AFTER his crime to convert. Those men had plenty of time to convert. Would the Archbishop prefer we keep them alive on ice for the next millennia, just in case?
Another of the men executed raped and murdered a FIVE-YEAR-OLD CHILD. How much time at life did the criminal grant to THAT CHILD?
No matter how heinous the crime we know God can call a person to repentance up until He calls them home. We do not as Christians usurp that which is God’s.
“Life imprisonment…. allows for a conversion of hearts.”
Unlike Coakley, I actually worked in a “correctional” facility. I enclose the term in quotes because people who work there know how futile efforts at reform are with the overwhelming number of inmates.
I had a high school classmate who tortured and killed a narcotic counterparty. Upon securing that employment, I found out he was assigned to a single occupant cell, because he was assessed as so violent that he could not be trusted with a cellmate.
Apart from his failure to understand people’s “conversion of hearts” can be a hardening or that being surrounded by criminals isn’t likely to provoke repentance, people who are convicted to a facility are INCARCERCATED, not IMPRISONED.
Incarceration is the lawful denial of personal autonomy through a judicial process, Imprisonment is the denial of personal autonomy unlawfully without judicial process.
Incidentally, there’s already a movement to end life sentences, because they are “unfair”. This is how my former classmate described his upbringing, implicitly blaming his parents for his life choices.
“It was a middle-class life with a lot of child abuse. It was a very strict upbringing. My father was a state trooper. He was a disciplinarian. You can imagine my dad being in the position he was in, and with the homicide — it was his friends that picked me up, his friends that made the phone call to him. So it was a big embarrassment and hurtful for them. I never lived a criminal lifestyle. It was a shock to them. They just wanted to wash their hands and be done with me.”
The part of about not living the criminal lifestyle is a bit of a lie. He was an amoral bully from an early age and involved with drugs before the murder. Note the use of the word “homicide”, instead of MURDER.
He’s now part of a program that matches inmates with dogs. I guess that makes amends for his vicious murder. Some indicator of moral rehabilitation I guess.
Our state prison has a program where inmates train service dogs for disabled veterans. I think it’s a great idea.
Our system has something called “Correctional Industries”, which is designed, in theory to prepare limited term inmates for employment in places where a criminal record might not be disqualifying-with products sold to other government agencies or tax exempt entities. Yes, inmates need something other than gym quality weight rooms or law libraries, to occupy their time.
Much of the enterprise is devoted to teaching “soft” skills-i.e., 9:00 AM means 9:00 AM, and the response to “you’re late” isn’t “eff you”.
This from the newspaper account of the sentencing. I knew “S”.
“S and L began beating G in S’s apartment in [REDACTED] on [DATE REDACTED] police said.
THE VICTIM was placed in the trunk of P’s car and driven to a wooded area near [REDACTED]in [REDACTED], where he was beaten and stoned, police said.
After THE VICTIM was thrown down a 30-foot embankment, five or six deep gashes were cut in his neck and he was stabbed three times in the abdomen, police said.
Although no motive was ever revealed, S’s defense attorney, J, offered testimony that S was drinking almost a case of beer a day and injecting cocaine into his veins four times a week at the time of the killing. (Remember the claim he wasn’t living the criminal lifestyle)
S was convicted, and during the trial his attorney claimed his father never showed him love. S filed multiple vexatious appeals, one based on the incorrect definition of an “accomplice.”, as if that changed anything. S is now an activist to abolish life sentences and in one of his biographies claimed that his parents abused him and abandoned him after his conviction and that’s where he described his crime as “the homicide”, diminishing and evading responsibility for the aggravated murder he committed.
Part of moral reformation is acknowledging your responsibility done through “my fault, my most grievous fault”.
The dog can keep him busy, but behind bars. If he can’t be trusted with a cellmate-emancipating him into society wouldn’t be prudence or justice.
Mental health facilities used to have their patients do gardening,farming and animal related chores; it gave many a sense of purpose and they didn’t get in much trouble. Of course, it helped with the cost of food as well.
We had family members who worked in a prison and state psychiatric hospitals. Gardening wasn’t available at the hospital as I remember but they did have vocational training like woodworking, etc.
I used to take my vehicle to the mental hospital for the patients to practice detailing on. It was very reasonable and they did a good job.
Our state prison is a very tough place. It has the reputation of being one of the toughest in the nation. But they have farming, livestock, service animal and horse training, & opportunities for inmates to make and sell crafts and furniture. I’m actually writing this while sitting on an inmate-made rocking chair. 🙂
One of the inmates was a Columbian drug cartel member. He had a religious conversion and crafts beautiful icons to sell.
mrscracker: Capital crimes aside, I have long held the belief that “doing time” for crimes committed is about the dumbest notion going. Punishment should be assessed according to the severity of the crime but rather than assign time in prison, inmates should be punished by the number of hours worked while in prison. A prison should be set up for productive work so that people living in society can buy products made. So, for example, someone rapes a woman. He is to do 20,000 hours of work making rocking chairs. These rocking chairs are sold on the market and the proceeds used to defray the cost of keeping him in prison. He gets released from prison when he has logged his 20,000 hours of work.
“A prison should be set up for productive work so that people living in society can buy products made.”
Typically, inmates ARE assigned work details. Some do maintenance or custodial tasks or “KP” duty and when I was employed, one of the female facilities had a garment shop that produced all the “cocoa browns” (jumpsuits) worn by inmates. Of course textile trades haven’t been a great landing spot for released inmates since everything began being labeled “Made in Vietnam/China/India/Pakistan..”.
Part of the reparations to the taxpayers for their care and custody was to be paid a nominal amount for their labor ($1.00/hr was good then). Earnings were held in an account in an inmate welfare fund, which could be used for honey buns (favored as a sweet and a currency) and the now discontinued Sony SRF-M37W radio, allowed because it was the size of a bar of soap, so no chance of conceals “shanks”, and coveted due to excellent reception and single AA battery power. In addition, a released inmate is charged for costs involved in release, including the cost of civilian clothing.
As to offering things to the public, there’s many issues. Some things involve tools and components that could easily become shanks or require specialized skills not common in the inmate population and no for profit-business isn’t going to raise hell if the local state institution starts marketing products with a built-in economic advantage of captive labor paid sub-market wages. Some states specifically prohibit running an “enterprise fund” that sells to the public, restricting sales to other governmental units and tax exempt entities-technically an “internal service fund”.
I worked on the fiscal side, so I was “contact” only. However, I received training on inmate psychology and suppression techniques. Although I was never care or custody, I had a plenty of first party accounts and cautions from those that did. If there’s riot, that distinction evaporates and there’s only “staff” and “inmates”. (One of my academy classmates was a minister being hired as chaplain supervisor, I had the feeling he was a decent fellow about to become a jaded fellow).
I think the best depiction of what goes on on the inside was the 1989 film An Innocent Man with Tom Selleck portraying a wrongfully convicted man. He’s not interested in what goes on there-but it’s really interested in him.