Alaska lawmakers are gearing up to discuss an issue that many other states have wrestled with. Should the state kill certain criminals? Should Alaska effect capital punishment on the worst ones?

One local group, Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, is speaking out to make sure the answer is no.

One of the men leading the charge against the death penalty had a very different position about 20 years ago.

"In 1985 there were four 9th-grade girls who were involved in my grandmother's murder," said Bill Pelke. "And the 15-year-old girl who was deemed to be the ring leader was sentenced to death by the state of Indiana. I originally supported that decision."

But Pelke had a change of heart and says family of murder victims need to be able to forgive rather than seek revenge.

"Because that doesn't bring healing," he said.

The group also says a death penalty is very costly, more expensive than housing a prisoner for life.

The clock is ticking on getting their message out because this January the Legislature is expected to take up the topic of capital punishment again.

House Speaker Mike Chenault is the sponsor of House Bill 9, which would re-instate the death penalty in Alaska. Something not seen since we were a territory.

"Occasionally we'll get that heinous crime that is committed that putting someone in jail for the rest of their life, in certain people's opinion, is not satisfactory enough for the crime that was committed," Chenault said.

The

Advertisement
bill will pick up in the House Finance committee where lawmakers will discuss the costs associated with such a sentence.

"I think anybody that looks at the pennies, nickels and dimes of this will realize it's money misspent," Pelke said. "States have spent millions of dollars and haven't executed anybody."

Chenault says they don't have a good cost estimate yet, but the bill also has a long ways to go.

"I think there are realistic concerns over how to implement it and on the intricate parts and pieces of it," Chenault said. "But I certainly think it's good conversation to have."

It's conversation that Alaskans Against the Death Penalty expects to be involved in until the very end.

Pelke says his grandmother's killer was able to have her sentence reduced. The two have been corresponding by mail and in person for years. She is set to be released by 2014 and he hopes to have her join him as he travels the country giving speeches.

To contact the Newsroom, call 907-274-1111.

Comment Ground Rules