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MARYLAND-EXECUTE Dec-6-2005 (560 words) Follow-up. With photo posted Nov. 30. xxxn
Maryland inmate executed despite cardinal's pleas for mercy
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic News Service
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. rejected a high-profile plea from Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler and other religious leaders to spare the life of convicted murderer Wesley E. Baker.
Baker was put to death by lethal injection Dec. 5 at the Metropolitan Transition Center prison in Baltimore. He became the 1,002nd person to be executed in the United States in the past 30 years and the fifth in Maryland.
Cardinal Keeler had visited Baker on death row exactly one week before his execution, using the dramatic gesture to ask Ehrlich for mercy. The cardinal had also joined Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington and Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli of Wilmington, Del. -- whose dioceses include parts of Maryland -- in signing a letter petitioning the governor to commute Baker's sentence to life without parole.
"I appreciate the sincerity and thoughtfulness of the arguments presented to me on Mr. Baker's behalf," said Ehrlich in a statement. "After a thorough review of the request for clemency, the facts pertinent to this petition and the judicial opinions regarding this case, I decline to intervene."
On the night of Baker's execution, Ehrlich said his sympathies were with "the families of all those involved in this heinous and brutal crime."
Richard J. Dowling, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, said he deeply regretted the governor's decision.
"We'll just have to keep working toward the day when death is not viewed as the antidote to death -- when mercy is the more appropriate, more Christian response to violent crime," said Dowling, who represents Maryland's Catholic bishops in the state capital, Annapolis.
Baker was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Jane Tyson in front of two of her grandchildren at a Baltimore County mall. At the time of her death, Tyson was preparing to enter fully into the Catholic Church.
Many members of the religious community used the days leading up to the execution to pray for mercy and for an end to the death penalty.
More than 20 people gathered at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Baltimore for an interfaith prayer vigil Dec. 1 and about 50 people prayed outside the prison where Baker was executed Dec. 5.
At St. Vincent, Deacon Bill Pearson told The Catholic Review, Baltimore archdiocesan newspaper, that he prayed the governor would spare Baker's life because Jesus preached a message of mercy and forgiveness.
"Violence begets violence," said Deacon Pearson. "It's true that when you follow the Gospel you must forgive."
C. William Michaels, coordinator of Pax Christi Baltimore, said all victims of violence, including Jane Tyson, were in his prayers. But he called those who are executed by the state the "victims of another form of violence."
During the prayer vigil, the Rev. C.W. Harris of Newborn Community Church in Baltimore called the death penalty a "law to murder."
"Jesus didn't die for the righteous man," Rev. Harris said. "He died for sinners."
During the vigil, participants observed a moment of silence for all victims of violence and joined together to pray for an end to the death penalty.
"God of compassion," they prayed. "You let your rain fall on the just and unjust. Expand and deepen our hearts so that we may love as you love even those among us who have caused great pain."
END
Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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