Dozens of death penalty opponents gathered on the steps of the Texas Capitol Tuesday evening to protest the 200th execution under Gov. Rick Perry, which was scheduled for 6 p.m.
Perry’s approval of the execution of Terry Lee Hankins marks the highest number of executions performed by any governor in American history. Hankins, who shot his wife and child in their sleep, has previously described himself as a “non-caring monster.”
Austin’s protest took place in conjunction with similar protests taking places in the country and around the world, including Houston, Albuquerque, Liepzig, German and Paris, France.
The Austin protestors, holding signs and placards, crowded the Capitol’s entrance along Congress Avenue. A symbolic “burial” took place where 200 candles were placed one by one in a cardboard coffin. The names of each person executed, and the crime they had committed was announced at the sound of a bell.
Alexis Konevich, a philosophy senior at St. Edwards University and intern for the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said executions were ethically and morally wrong and do not support her personal moral beliefs.
“By the standards of our Constitution, I believe it is cruel and unusual punishment,” Konevich said.
Scott Cobb, president of the Texas Moratorium Network said the protests, organized by anti-execution organizations, served to demonstrate that people are opposed to the use of the death penalty in Texas.
“Texas just executes more people than other states,” Cobb said. “When you travel abroad, and you say you are from Texas, the first thing that comes to mind is executions and maybe cowboys.”
Cobb said he would be protesting outside the Huntsville prison where Texas executes those on death row.
“I think that people will have an effect on public opinion and policy makers,” Cobb said.
Kristin Houlé, the director for the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, who was present at the Capitol’s protest, said as people become more educated on the topic and understand the complexity of the practice, support for the death penalty is starting to wane.
“You can’t help but feel a sense of sadness for the lose of life on both sides,” Houlé said six minutes before Terry Hankins was scheduled to die.
The governor’s office did not return calls to The Daily Texan by press time.
