Death Penalty News

A woman has accused the acting chairman of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board of making unwanted physical contact with her last year. Edward Konieczny, a retired Episcopalian bishop, was appointed to the board by Gov. Kevin Stitt in January 2022. Konieczny could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The woman who made the accusation, Ayala Harris of Oklahoma, was elected president last year of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies.

[Episcopal News Service] Federal executions are scheduled to resume next month for the first time since 2003, at the prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the nearby congregation of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church has joined other faith groups and anti-death penalty advocates in leading discussions on the issue. St. Stephen’s hosted a forum on Oct. 29 featuring a retired executioner and a murder victim’s family member. The Rev. Drew Downs, the church’s rector, has blogged on the issue and plans to attend a prayer vigil on Dec. 9, the morning of the first scheduled execution. Long-time parishioners still have vivid memories of the frenzy in 2001 when Timothy McVeigh was executed there. “It was a very tense time,” said Gene England, 79, a death penalty opponent who has been a St. Stephen’s member for 50 years. Reporters and activists on both sides of the issue swarmed the city before McVeigh’s execution, fueling some conversations at the congregation’s parish picnic that year. ...