Press Conference at Idaho State Capitol, Nov. 7, 2024, Bp Manlove

(I am so grateful for the 1991 ELCA Social Statement on the death penalty. All quotes here are from that statement.)

The Lutherans of the Northwest Intermountain Synod-ELCA grieve the scheduled execution (Nov. 13) of Mr. Thomas Creech and are thankful for the postponement.

At the 2023 gathering of the ELCA Lutherans from Idaho, Eastern WA, and parts of Wyoming and Oregon, we passed a resolution condemning the use of the firing squad and all forms of the death penalty. Why?

My family of Lutheran Christians believes we are called to “respond to violent crime in the restorative way taught by Jesus and shown by his actions.” [Matt. 5:38-42—turn the other cheek, give your cloak… and John 8:3-11 Let anyone without sin throw the first stone]. Restorative justice involves “addressing the hurt of each person whose life has been touched by violent crime.” This approach “makes the community safer for all.”

1. Executions represent an unacceptable, non-restorative approach to violent crime
2. Executions can reinforce social injustice—Violent crime reminds us that we have failed to ensure justice for all members of society, yet people often respond to violent crime as through it were exclusively the criminals’ individual failure. Capital punishment makes no provable impact on the breeding grounds of violent crime. Executions harm society by reinforcing existing injustice. The death penalty distracts us from our work toward a just society.
3. The death penalty cannot possibly be administered justly. The justice system is not perfect, and yet an execution cannot be undone if a verdict is overturned.

“The practice of the death penalty (including the scheduled execution of Mr. Creech) undermines any possible moral message we might want to ‘send.’” It is not fair, and it will fail to make society better or safer. The message conveyed by this scheduled execution is one of brutality and violence.

Press Release about the Press Conference

Idahoans Against the Death Penalty 

Press Conference – Friday at 11am MT BOISE, ID (Nov 7, 2024) —  Several Idahoans Against the Death Penalty conveners will be available for comment on the postponement of the execution of Thomas Creech and other matters related to Idaho’s death penalty at a press conference at 11am MT on Friday, Nov 8 on the stairs in front of the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. 
Mr. Creech, who was subject to a failed execution attempt in February of this year and had been scheduled for another attempted execution on November 13, has been returned from the “Death Watch” cell to his regular Death Row cell at the Idaho State Correctional Institution. The execution has been postponed to allow time for legal briefings as ordered by Federal District Judge G. Murray Snow.
Spokespersons at Friday’s press conference will include Rev. Karen Hernandez, Sage District Superintendent for the United Methodist Church and Rev. Dr. Meggan Manlove, Bishop of the Northwest Intermountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The two women are among the conveners of a new organization established to give voice to growing opposition to a resumption of executions in Idaho. The group’s web page is IdahoansAgainstTheDeathPenalty.org, and features several mechanisms for Idahoans to register opposition to executions, including:

• A “Leadership Letter” addressed to the governor and the legislature for Idaho business owners, clergy and other faith leaders, and others in community leadership roles to add their names. This letter will be submitted to Governor Little if and when a new execution date is scheduled for Mr. Creech or ay other Idaho prisoner. 
• An “Organizational Endorsement” opportunity for faith, civic, business and other organizations to endorse the new effort to amplify opposition to executions in Idaho 
• Petitions to oppose the execution of Thomas Creech and Gerald Pizzuto, the two Idaho prisoners for whom execution dates have recently been set (Pizzuto does not currently have an execution date.)
• A form to request a speaker