Execution elicits opposing vigils
WALLA WALLA. Wash (AP) While death
penalty opponents proved silently bv candlelight
outside the state penitentiorv. those who wanted
Westley Allan Dodd to hang set off firecrai ker*
and waved sparklers
After his midnight exe< ution. .ilenit 1 At) people
cheered Dodd's death like boosters at a pep rally
One woman tugged at a noose she had slipped
around her net k
"I'm feeling real good about this, lust ice has
been served." another woman. I Jena Brown of
Walla Walla, said.
On the prison grounds, opponents and propo
nents of the death penalty were separated into ad
latent fenced lots Prison officials arrested five
death penal!v opponents after they climbed a
snowy embankment near a guard tower. They
were in jail early Tuesday. Walla Walla County
sheriff s officials said
The 50 capital punishment opponents were as
somber as the proponents were jubilant.
"At five after 12. I looked up .it the prison and
just had a feeling of sorrow and pain." said the
Rev. left Spent er of Rit.bland, struggling with the
emotion in his voice. "I thought about the vu
tuns' families, I thought about Wes' family I
thought about Wes himself.
"It's a very brutal thing our state has done."
Dodtl. 31, was pronounced dead at 12 on a m
He was put to death for molesting and murdering
three young boys in 1989.
Dodd rejected all appeals on his behalf. He se
lected hanging over lethal injection because he
strangled one of his victims.
Debbie Miller of Walla Walla said she braved
Hit' near-zero wind chill and three im lies of snow
to stand outside the prison Us a use of Dodd’s vii
tims
Tin hen* for the kids that were killed 1 have a
4 year-old bov at home " she said Till here for
the families
While proponents held up signs that said
"Dodd should dangle" and sang ri» k songs with
good bye themes, the opponents kept a silent vig
il with lighted i undies
Tears rolled down several faces and voices
went scratchv with feeling when word of Dodd's
death was rei eived
"You were on the right side of history You
were on the right side of the moral issue, and we
will prevail." Magdaleno Ten" Rose Avila a re
gional offii ml lor Amnesty International, told the
group
On the state ( apitol steps in Olvmpia a Unit 411
opponents of the death |>enalt\ held .1 landlelight
vigil throughout the evening There were no
chants or songs, just quiet conversation in the
light rain.
"The ever ution unleashes something uglv in
society." said Ulen Anderson, an organizer ot
Olympians Against the Death Penalty It gives
the state's blessings on the use of violence to
solve our problems It jierpetnates the t vc le ot
violence w hen the government sees killing as ip
pmpriale "
Autopsy may prevent future hangings
OLYMPIA, Wash (AP) — The
exec ution of Westley Allan
Dodd might provide evidence
that could lie used to prevent
other inmates from dying on
the gallows, an attorney said
"We couldn't stop this hang
ing. hut mavhe we'll be able to
stop those in the future," said
Timothy Ford, a lawyer who
represented 2t> state taxpayers
in an unsuccessful bid to halt
the hanging.
Reporters who witnessed the
hanging early Tuesday said
Dodd appeared to die instantly
and without struggle, but there
were some contrary indica
tions. Ford said.
Witness accounts suggested
"some movement about :t0 or
40 seconds” after Dodd's
bound and hooded body
plunged through the gallows,
"indic ating that death was not
instantaneous," he said
Dodd may have suffered dur
ing "a period of prolonged con
s< iousness. or some period of
consciousness." said Ford, who
has handled and worked on ap
peals m capital punishment
cases nationwide
At least one reporter who
witnessed the exw ution said he
thought he saw some slight
movement in Dodd's abdomen,
but most agreed Dodd was not
conscious and that the move
ment probably was involuntary
muscle contractions
An autopsy being conducted
Tuesday in Seattle could show
whether Dodd died instantly
and without suffering
“Even if that happened this
time, that doesn't mean it will
happen the next time." Ford
said.
The question is central to
claims by death penalty oppo
nents that hanging is cruel and
unusual punishment and thus
is banned by the Constitution
WANTED
Continued from Page 1
have their own program, longer
said, and the idea to begin one
hero began after the national
agency found a delinquent par
ent in Oregon,
Non-payment of child sup
port is a huge problem. Jaeger
said, with half-a-billion dollars
in current and back payments
due last year in Oregon Ol that
figure, only about $1-0 million
was collected by the agency las!
year
Child support payments can
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tween a family on welfare and a
self-sufficient family, said AFS
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nich.
Hut Jaeger added that finding
these parents is important for
another reason.
"It's not just about money,"
she said "It's also about getting
an emotional contact with these
children frum their parents."
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