Thanks to all the Precious Blood Missionaries and Companions who attended our first justice and peace workshop of our Bicentennial celebration on immigration. Elena Segura was an excellent speaker and the folks from Sacred Heart and St. Patrick’s in Sedalia were great hosts. We appear to have an uphill battle on our hands in our challenge for immigration reform: House Republicans in Washington recently voted to roll-back justice for immigrants. Representatives Aderholt, Blackburn, and DeSantis added amendments to the Homeland Security appropriations bill which would eliminate funding for those made eligible to avoid deportation through DACA and DAPA, eliminate DACA itself, and increase deportations for other categories. The Senate still has to vote, likely in February.
Thanks also to those who attended the Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Lobby Day this past Wednesday. As we prepare for our next justice and peace workshop on Capital Punishment on March 7th, let’s uphold our seventeen-year-old corporate stance against the death penalty, by pushing for a moratorium on the death penalty in the state of Missouri and for advocating House Bill #561. Please contact your state representatives and senators to support this bill, which would establish Task Force on the Death Penalty.
Please pray for Marcellus Williams who is scheduled to be executed next Wednesday for a crime he may not have committed. Forensic evidence exists that does not match Williams DNA. Currently his lawyers are petitioning the court to have the DNA evidence at the scene submitted for comparison to known DNA profiles contained in the Missouri DNA database and the FBI’s CODIS database. Once again this case presents many of problems seen before such as wrongful conviction, inadequate legal representation, and racial disparity. He was convicted on the testimony of two witnesses, a jailhouse snitch and a former girlfriend. They were compensated for their testimony and the testimony was inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence.
Daryl Charron, C.PP.S.
