Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 9, 2006 21:01:43 GMT -5
Betty Fields, Ann Powers and Betty March have each been touched by the cold hand of violence. And, the three grandmothers share similar philosophies about punishing the people responsible for the tragedies that changed their lives.
Fields, of Bloomington, recently was recognized by the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in Illinois for her opposition to a death sentence for the man accused of murdering her daughter, Lorraine Fields, 2 years ago.
Authorities will not seek the death penalty against Leo Guider in the deaths of Fields, 41, and La Keisha Tyus, 26.
In Chicago to see Fields accept the award were Powers, mother of accused murderer Amanda Hamm, and March, stepmother of Maurice LaGrone Jr., Hamm's co-defendant in the 2003 drowning deaths of Hamm's 3 children at Clinton Lake.
LaGrone was convicted of 1st degree murder in April in Bloomington. Hamm will stand trial for murder in October in Decatur.
As she stepped to the podium to receive the Unsung Hero Award from the coalition, Fields said her close relationship with God has seen her through the death of a daughter and kept revenge for her killer at bay.
Fields, 63, recalled the moment she saw her daughter's body in the trunk of a car where it had been dumped after she was stabbed 19 times.
"I saw peace all over her face. It felt like my head had popped open and peace covered me," she said.
In the days after her daughter's death, Fields said friends surrounded her family with offers of help and support. "It was like the Lord kept telling me, 'Don't do anything, I got this covered,'" said Fields.
Her relationship with God is what led her to oppose capital punishment for Guider. In talks about the death penalty, Fields told prosecutors, "I'm not going to have anything to do with it. I won't support you in it," she said.
Powers and March have similar views.
Powers said she never considered her feelings about the death penalty until her daughter's arrest on murder charges in the deaths of her grandchildren.
After following other murder cases, Powers said she is convinced the death penalty often is supported as a source of revenge. She also is troubled by the cases that involve innocent people on death row.
"The death penalty will never take away the pain that families of the victims feel. It won't bring our loved ones back and in my mind only leads to bitterness. I believe that our loved ones who have passed would never want us to live with all this hatred and bitterness," said Powers.
LaGrone's stepmother believes death is an act only God should control.
"We all are born with a death penalty. I don't think any man should put another to death. God will punish the person - they will always have what they did on their minds," said March.
(source: Pantagraph)
Fields, of Bloomington, recently was recognized by the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in Illinois for her opposition to a death sentence for the man accused of murdering her daughter, Lorraine Fields, 2 years ago.
Authorities will not seek the death penalty against Leo Guider in the deaths of Fields, 41, and La Keisha Tyus, 26.
In Chicago to see Fields accept the award were Powers, mother of accused murderer Amanda Hamm, and March, stepmother of Maurice LaGrone Jr., Hamm's co-defendant in the 2003 drowning deaths of Hamm's 3 children at Clinton Lake.
LaGrone was convicted of 1st degree murder in April in Bloomington. Hamm will stand trial for murder in October in Decatur.
As she stepped to the podium to receive the Unsung Hero Award from the coalition, Fields said her close relationship with God has seen her through the death of a daughter and kept revenge for her killer at bay.
Fields, 63, recalled the moment she saw her daughter's body in the trunk of a car where it had been dumped after she was stabbed 19 times.
"I saw peace all over her face. It felt like my head had popped open and peace covered me," she said.
In the days after her daughter's death, Fields said friends surrounded her family with offers of help and support. "It was like the Lord kept telling me, 'Don't do anything, I got this covered,'" said Fields.
Her relationship with God is what led her to oppose capital punishment for Guider. In talks about the death penalty, Fields told prosecutors, "I'm not going to have anything to do with it. I won't support you in it," she said.
Powers and March have similar views.
Powers said she never considered her feelings about the death penalty until her daughter's arrest on murder charges in the deaths of her grandchildren.
After following other murder cases, Powers said she is convinced the death penalty often is supported as a source of revenge. She also is troubled by the cases that involve innocent people on death row.
"The death penalty will never take away the pain that families of the victims feel. It won't bring our loved ones back and in my mind only leads to bitterness. I believe that our loved ones who have passed would never want us to live with all this hatred and bitterness," said Powers.
LaGrone's stepmother believes death is an act only God should control.
"We all are born with a death penalty. I don't think any man should put another to death. God will punish the person - they will always have what they did on their minds," said March.
(source: Pantagraph)