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Jon Laramore’s opposition to the death penalty came about the way it has for many. He saw firsthand how unevenly it was applied, and now he lends his voice and experience to establishing a much-needed moratorium on executions in Indiana. Abolishing the death penalty would be a better approach, but Hoosiers should demand at least a moratorium while the process is under review.
“There are so many decision points in the process where judgment and bias and other factors can creep in,” said Laramore, who served as legal counsel to former Gov. Joe Kernan when the governor granted clemency to two Indiana death-row inmates, “Whether we can administer the death penalty fairly is the question we need to answer.”
The Indiana Coalition Acting to Suspend Executions – InCASE – last week issued an official call for a moratorium on executions. The group’s founder, Will McAuliffe, said he saw the need for a statewide organization to address apathy and myths surrounding the death penalty.
“We’re very cognizant of the political realities involved here,” he said. “We know it is going to be a political battle, but we would like to think it’s not so much an ‘us versus them’ as ‘us versus apathy.’ ”
McAuliffe points to 2007 survey by the American Bar Association that found 61 percent of Hoosiers would support a moratorium on executions so that issues regarding accuracy and fairness could be studied.
InCASE points to another American Bar Association study that showed Indiana is in full compliance on only 10 of 90 protocols established to ensure the death penalty is administered fairly. Another study, by the Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, found that death-penalty cases cost taxpayers 37 percent more than incarcerating an inmate for life.
The cost to taxpayers should be one consideration in the moratorium debate, which could find favor with Gov. Mitch Daniels. In 2005, the governor granted clemency to Arthur Baird II, who was scheduled to die for the 1985 slayings of his parents. An Indiana University psychiatrist deemed him “grossly psychotic and delusional.”
“In this climate, it takes real courage to commute a death sentence,” said Laramore, now a partner with the Indianapolis law firm of Baker & Daniels. “There have been very, very few other than these in Indiana. I applaud a governor who has the courage of his convictions to exercise the power the constitution gives to him to set aside a sentence.”
Kernan is also a member of the InCASE advisory board, along with Tim Streett, the director of an Indianapolis community center who, at the age of 15, witnessed his father’s shooting death in a robbery attempt.
InCASE’s effort to engage Hoosiers in a conversation that is not divisive and polarizing might well be the best approach. Their call for a moratorium while that conversation happens is worth pursuing.
