A group of advocates are gathered outside of the state capitol building in Jackson to demand that lawmakers and the Governor bar the use of the death penalty in the state. Convicted murderer David Cox is scheduled to face execution Wednesday. He pled guilty to charges including the murder of his wife and sexual assault of his step-daughter in 2010.
In 2018, Cox forfeited his right to appeal the sentence, expediting his execution. Abraham Bonowitz, Co-founder of the advocacy group Death Penalty Action, says he believes Cox chose this as a form of government assisted suicide to escape the harsh conditions of the prison. And he says executions do not provide the closure that victim families need.
“People who are concerned about government, who don’t trust the government, who don’t trust the vaccine, who believe they aren’t taxed fairly, should also recognize that the death penalty is just another failed government program,” says Bonowitz. “If you can’t trust government fo these other things, how do you trust it to execute somebody.”
Protesters held signs and spoke about their own experience with death row sentencing. Some shared their family’s encounters with homicide and how they felt execution an unjust punishment.
Kenny McGill of Jackson also attended the rally to protest the execution. He is a former minister, and says he morally opposes death as a government sanctioned punishment.
“I don’t want to kill nobody, and when my government kills somebody because my government is supposed to be me, it says that I’m killing somebody. And I don’t want that blood on my hands.”
If David Cox is executed Wednesday, it will be the first death sentence carried out in Mississippi since 2012.
