Amy Goodman
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Sister Helen Prejean & Bill Pelke on Freeing Death Row Prisoner Who Killed Pelke's Grandmother 1/2
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June 19, 2013
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17:15Now PlayingIn a remarkable story on the journey from grief to forgiveness, Bill Pelke joins us along with renowned activist and "Dead Man Walking" author Sister Helen Prejean to discuss the latest victory for the movement against the death penalty. On Monday, the state of Indiana freed Paula Cooper, the Indiana woman convicted for the 1985 murder of Pelke's grandmother, elderly bible school teacher Ruth Pelke, in Gary, Indiana. At the time Cooper became the youngest person on death row. She had been the victim of child abuse and had attended 10 different schools by the time of her arrest. Her case galvanized human rights activists and death penalty opponents around the world, including Bill Pelke himself. Partnering with Sister Helen, he campaigned against the death penalty and plead for Cooper to be granted clemency.
Watch Part 2 of this interview
"I became convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that my grandmother would have been appalled by the fact that this girl was on death row," Pelke recalls. "I was convinced she would have had love for Paula Cooper and her family. I felt she wanted some of my family to have that same sort of love and compassion." Sister Helen, whose bestselling book "Dead Man Walking," was turned into the Academy Award-winning film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, is the founder of "Survive," a victim's advocacy group in New Orleans. She continues to counsel not only inmates on death row, but also the families of murder victims. "Forgiveness is not first and foremost what you do for the one who's hurt you to lift their burden," Sister Helen says. "It's a way of saving your own life, a way of preserving wholeness, as we can see in Bill Pelke."
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