The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 23, 1996, Image 1
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John Michael Greer takes part in a pray
to protest the execution of Fred Kornah
two protestors. Pearson heads the Soul
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PHOTOS BY ROBERT WAUON The Gamecock
?ht vigil outside the governor's mansion,
essor Bruce Pearson, right, speaks to
> Abolish the Death Penalty.
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Professor hec
penalty oppot
ROBERT WALTON Photo Editor
Huddled together at the gates to
the South Carolina governor's mansion,
sheltering small candles and
hoping for the miracle of clemency,
opponents of capital punishment
came to make their concerns known
and to separate themselves from the
sentence ahnnt. tn he carried nut..
Fred Kornahrens died by lethal (
injection early Friday morning for
three murders he committed in .
1985.
The candlelight vigil did not con- i
vince Governor David Beasley to ,
grant clemency to Kornahrens, but
according to Bruce Pearson, an English
professor at USC, it provided a
"religious setting for those who do
not wish to have the state kill someone
in their name." i
Pearson heads the South Carolina
Coalition to Abolish the Death
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vigil and prayer service.
The coalition is a volunteer organization,
with no real membership
or funding. There is a mailing list
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said, "If it is wrong for the individual
to kill, it is also wrong as a group
activity under state sponsorship."
The coalition's goal is to abolish
to the death penalty in South Carolina.
Pearson said the group takes
advantage of every opportunity to
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tnent
ids death
iitiori group.
air its concerns and makes protest
efforts whenever an execution occurs.
Pearson said it is impossible to
predict when the death penalty will
fall, but he said he is confident evenhiallv
ranital nnnishnriant will bp
stopped.
Twelve states and all democracies
in Western Europe have no
death penalty," Pearson said. "The
United States is in the company of
some rather unsavory nations."
The coalition formed in 1977,
when the current death penalty
statute was enacted.
In the mid-80s two grants were
acquired which allowed the coalition
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iu maintain ail uuiv^c aiiu a luii-timc
staff member. But when the grants
from the Atlanta Fund for Southern
Communities and the Catholic
church's Campaign for Human Development
expired, the organization
became an all-volunteer group.
The coalition has a core membership
of about 100 people who attend
vigils and protests that the
coalition stages, but Pearson said he
believes this is only a fraction of the
people in South Carolina who are
opposed to the death penalty.
"We are just a group of volunteers
trying to get a message across,"
Pearson said. If people understand
the issues, they will come out
against (capital punishment)."
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