November Lecture Series Focuses on the Death Penalty

A series featuring speakers on the death penalty will be held at Mount St. Mary’s University this November to promote ongoing dialogue on the practice of the death penalty.

All programs are free and open to the public.

Kirk Bloodsworth, the first DNA exonerated death row inmate, will speak on Wednesday, November 14 at 7 p.m. in Knott Auditorium on the Mount campus. Bloodsworth will address “The Risk of Convicting and Executing the Innocent.” A Maryland crabber and former Marine, Bloodsworth was convicted in 1985 of the sexual assault and killing of a nine year old girl. After spending over eight years in prison, including two years facing a death sentence, he eventually became the first inmate in the United States to be exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing.

On Friday, November 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the Mount’s Purcell Hall, Bud Welch will discuss why he opposed the execution of Timothy McVeigh and dedicated himself to efforts to abolish the death penalty following the loss of his daughter, Julie, in the Oklahoma City bombing. The program is entitled “A Father Finds Solace in Mercy, Not Revenge.”

On Tuesday, November 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Purcell Hall, Vicki Schieber, a resident of Maryland, will discuss her commitment to the abolishment of the death penalty following the murder of her daughter by a serial rapist in Philadelphia in 1998. Her presentation is entitled “Don’t Kill in My Daughter’s Name.”

The lecture series is designed to promote public discussion of social justice issues.

For more information contact Trudy Conway, a professor in the Mount’s philosophy department, at 301-447-5368.