Free societies do not execute

A respect for life stands as the paramount virtue of a society dedicated to personal liberty. History is replete with examples of governments utilizing the death penalty as a tool of general oppression. Nations which honor life until natural death have never transformed into tyrannical regimes, for if a body politic holds life up as a paramount virtue, all other liberties follow.

That is not to say that Louisiana will suddenly become an autocratic regime because executions at Angola will recommence after a 15-year abeyance next month. Yet, when it is noted that the occupants of its death row come from disproportionately minority communities, we are forced to wonder if justice has been rendered equally?

The rights of several condemned look to have been infringed in several capital murder cases around the nation, at least so recent history has revealed as DNA evidence posthumously exonerated several of the executed. The only sure way in the end to guarantee fundamental liberty is the assurance of the right to live no matter what, even when the convict has robbed another of his or her right to live.

Gov. Jeff Landry seems set to allow the execution of 81-year-old Christopher Sepulvado on March 17, 2025. Absent any last-minute reversals in the court system, he will likely be joined in death on March 18 by Jessie Hoffman, rendered into the hereafter by nitrogen gas hypoxia. These men murdered children, so it might strike one as macabre that they shall go to their demise in a fashion similar to the way that six million innocents met their demise in Nazi gas chambers during World War II.

Only Alabama has ever executed anyone by nitrogen gas, claiming up to the death of Kenneth Smith one year ago that the process brought no pain. On the contrary, witnesses report­ed that Smith “shook and writhed” for at least four min­utes before con­tin­u­ing to breathe heav­i­ly for anoth­er few min­utes.

For a governor who has justified his opposition to abortion on the grounds that the fetus feels pain, and therefore is a living being, the reality that these looming executions could cause cruel and unusual punishment should give any leader pause. The fact that Louisiana’s governor has called life sacred from “birth until natural death” should give the Christian and Catholic soul in him great reticence to ever end a life at official sanction. The pope certainly thinks so.

Some armchair theologians might quote the doctrines of “innocent versus guilty blood,” forgetting that their savior was the victim of a wrongful execution. Each Sunday, they bow before a torture device in the front of their basilicas to emphasize the point that “He died for your sins so you will not have to.” Jesus Christ guaranteed more than just eternal life to his followers, however. He hoped the example of his sacrifice might build a better world. His last act was to pardon a suspected murderer, after all.

Governor Landry, to live like Christ is to respect life above all! Freedom from public execution stands as the only guarantee that any citizen has that society will not turn tyrannical. To spend all of one’s life in a penitentiary seeking penance for one’s transgressions proves no insignificant fate for murder and wrongdoing. To condemn to death may bring retribution, yet your own faith puts that authority in the Almighty. To turn away from the sacred appreciation of human life for its own sake never ends well for any society.

This article originally published in the February 24, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.