Death penalty foes speak out in Las Vegas

Ed Koch and Mary Manning

Thursday, March 25, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.

Three leading proponents of abolishing the death penalty told Las Vegans on Wednesday that they believe killers should be punished -- but not with more killing.

The advocates spoke at afternoon and evening vigils and news conferences at a local church and at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to drum up support to end what they term "state-sponsored" killings.

"We don't want to see the state take their (convicted people's) lives," said Abe Bonowitz, a former death penalty proponent, who has for the last 15 years sought alternatives to the death penalty.

"We want accountability (for crimes). Lock them up and throw away the key. These people (killers) should never be free. But don't make citizens of a state lower themselves to the level of the killer."

The advocates say they only recently fit Nevada into their nationwide tour because Lawrence Colwell Jr., 35, is facing execution at 9 p.m. Friday in Carson City for killing a Las Vegas tourist. The advocates said they will keep vigil in Carson City.

Colwell asked for and received a death sentence for strangling Frank Rosenstock, 76, a New York widower who was visiting the Tropicana in March 1994. After the killing, Colwell and his girlfriend turned accomplice, Merrilee Paul, robbed Rosenstock and, according to prosecutors, returned to their motel and "had sex and breakfast." Paul got life in prison.

Bonowitz, a former board member of Amnesty International USA and longtime director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, expressed disgust during a Wednesday afternoon news conference at Christ Church Episcopal on Maryland Parkway that in seven of the last eight executions in Nevada the killers simply waived their appeals to speed up their demise.

"In this state, the death penalty (seemingly) is used only when a person commits murder and waives his appeals," he said. "That's not the way it (the system) should be. The real punishment is not allowing the cowards to take the easy way out."

Bill Pelke, the grandson of a murder victim, told the gatherings that the killing of a person who murders a loved one will not bring the closure that many victims' families desire.

"In many cases, it is purely a matter of revenge -- and revenge is never the answer," Pelke said.

Pelke's 78-year-old grandmother, a Bible teacher in Gary, Ind., let four local high school girls into her home after they told her they wanted Bible lessons. The woman then was bludgeoned with a vase and stabbed 33 times with a 12-inch butcher knife. The girls stole $10 and the woman's car.

Paula Cooper, 16, was convicted and became the youngest female in the United States on death row. Pelke, a retired steelworker, originally supported the court action then forgave the teenager, corresponded with her and helped overturn her death sentence. She now is serving 60 years in prison.

Cooper has earned the equivalent of a high school diploma, took college correspondence courses and works for a tax company inside prison, Pelke said. "She's not the same person today," he said. Clark County District Attorney David Roger, however, takes the view that is shared by many supporters of the death penalty.

"I believe there are some murders that are so heinous they deserve the death penalty," Roger said.

The district attorney's office seeks the death penalty in an average of 14 homicide cases a year, he said. "A majority of the people of the state of Nevada believe the death penalty is appropriate punishment for certain killers," Roger said. Ron Cornell became an advocate for families of murder victims after his 16-year-old son was killed four years ago, says the state doesn't use the death penalty enough and lengthy appeals do not allow victims' families to complete their grief.

"We, as victims, cannot go on with our lives," he said.

"For the majority of us who support the death penalty, I say the system's broke. We're not using it," he said. Cornell said he does not believe in executing mentally retarded criminals and said he supports the weight of DNA and other evidence to prove a person is guilty of murder.

Another speaker at Wednesday's events was 52-year-old Juan "Puerto Rican Johnny" Melendez, who spent almost 18 years on death row for a murder he did not commit. According to news accounts of his release, Melendez apparently was railroaded into prison to protect a police informant who had committed the murder for which Melendez was convicted.

"The judicial system is as susceptible to human error as anything else, and in the case of the death penalty that error is irrevocable," said Melendez, who since his Jan. 3, 2002, release from prison has returned to Puerto Rico where he cares for his 74-year-old mother and lectures at schools.

"If you put a man in prison and you later find he is innocent, you can let him go. If you kill that man you cannot correct that mistake."

Melendez, who proclaimed his innocence since Day 1, admits he has "a little problem" speaking in favor of Colwell who not only admitted to killing someone but also dared the state to put him to death.

Still, Melendez says, he speaks out "for the rest of the condemned men who want to live." And he noted that Colwell is "mentally unstable," which should be considered before putting a man to death.

Melendez was the 24th inmate in Florida to be taken off death row and the 99th death row inmate in the United States to be freed because post-conviction evidence proved his innocence.

During his time on death row, Melendez had lost several appeals and, if the real killer's confession had not been found, Melendez likely still would be on death row -- or dead -- today.

Bonowitz says that during their speaking engagements, Melendez and Pelke talk about the "heartstring issues" and the morality of not putting people to death "while I speak of the pragmatic reasons." One of those pragmatic reasons, he said, is the cost of the death penalty versus life in prison.

According to the Amnesty International USA website, several studies have shown it is much cheaper to house a prison inmate for decades than it is to put him to death after about 10 years behind bars. The organization says a Florida study found it cost the state $3.2 million per execution -- appeals and all -- compared to spending on average of $600,000 for life imprisonment.

"Recently in Alaska, lawmakers turned down having a death penalty after a study showed it would cost $50 million to set up a death penalty system before the first person was executed," Bonowitz said.

Bonowitz's organization says the state of Florida spends $50 million more a year than what it would spend if it did not have a death penalty and California spends $90 million more. They did not have Nevada's costs.