Rallyers Protest Death Penalty

BOSTON--A day after Governor A. Paul Cellucci proposed a bill to bring back the death penalty to Massachusetts, 150 people rallied at the gates of the State House to oppose the move late yesterday afternoon.

The rally, organized by the Boston chapter of Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP), included members of Harvard-Radcliffe Amnesty International as well as students from other local colleges.

Angry chants of "Cellucci Says Death Row, We Say Hell No" and picketing kicked off the rally. Speakers, ranging from state representatives to academics to bystanders, followed with addresses to the protesters.

"We'll fight them tooth and nail. We'll fight them every day [to defeat this bill]," said Brian Jones, an anti-death penalty activist.

Jones told the crowd that the recent case of Anthony Porter, an Illinois deathrow inmate who was found innocent just before he was executed, is an example of the flawed system. Porter was released last week after another man confessed to the killing.

"Mr. Cellucci, I'll not have my hands bloodied. We want justice, not death," said Victoria Williams, a Suffolk University student.

Speakers also included out-of-state residents such as Brian K. Chidester, a CEDP Rhode Island organizer.

Chidester said Rhode Island's last execution was in 1845, when an Irish immigrant who was later found innocent was executed for killing his boss.

Rhode Island is one of thirteen states in which the death penalty is illegal. Chidester warned if Massachusetts passes the death penalty, it will create a domino effect.

"If we go down, it'll send a message to the 12 other states," he said.

Massachusetts nearly passed a death penalty bill in the fall of 1997 in response to the brutal murder of 10-year-old Jeffery Curley, a Cambridge resident.

While Cellucci and his predecessor, William F. Weld '66, were both death penalty advocates and the State Senate supported the measure, the House deadlocked on a 80-80 vote after Rep. John Slattery (D-Peabody) voted against the measure at the last minute.

Brown University English professor William Keach said in an interview after the rally that the close vote in 1997 was an impetus for the anti-death penalty coalition to better mobilize itself.

"We can't have it be that close again," he said. "We understand it comes down to what happens in the State House."

With outrage over Curley's murder starting to fade from the political landscape, the House votes are still evenly divided, The Boston Herald reported yesterday.

Rep. Bryon Rushing (D-Boston), another speaker at the rally who denounced the proposed bill, could not understand why Cellucci is advocating the death penalty though violent crime rates have been rapidly dropping

"It's absolutely inexplicable. I don't understand it," Rushing said in an interview after the rally. "The rational thing is to focus on what seems to be working for the last ten years to reduce crime."

The organizers of the rally said they were pleased with the turnout, but promised larger protests in the weeks ahead as March hearings for the bill draw closer.

"We've been organizing for two years for this moment," said Sue Fitzgerald, the CEPD Boston coordinator.