July 4, 2009 |
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YVONNE MARTINEZ | FC Death penalty foe presses onPending execution of child rapist and murderer poses challenges to Mount Dora advocate’s efforts to win hearts. ROCKLEDGE | For 16 years, Vicki Rios-Martinez has waited for what she believes to be justice. For 16 years she and her husband, Junny, along with their two children have struggled to find peace in a world that left them all with a painfully irreplaceable void. For 16 years they’ve lived without the love, laughter, and life of their precious Junny who shared his father’s name. At age 11, on a warm spring day in 1991, Junny Omar Rios-Martinez was raped and murdered by Mark Dean Schwab. On Nov. 15, 16 years, six months and 28 days after young Junny was brutally murdered, the state of Florida plans to execute Schwab by means of lethal injection. In the minds of the Rios-Martinez family, death is too good for their loved one’s killer. “I used to be pro-life,” said Vicki Rios-Martinez. “Until this happened. It’s closure.” Because of the nature of the crime and the tender age of the victim, even death-penalty opponents can find it difficult to muster compassion for Schwab. But as his scheduled execution date looms, the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty continues with more vigor than ever. A small group at St. Mary Parish in Rockledge spent nearly two hours Oct. 23 engaged in debate, discussion, and education about the church’s position and teachings about the sanctity of life and applying it to everyone. 
At age 11, on a warm spring day in 1991, Junny Omar Rios-Martinez was raped and murdered by Mark Dean Schwab. Bernie Welch, a social justice advocate at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Mount Dora, travels throughout the Orlando Diocese with the message from bishops across Florida and the nation in an effort to educate parishioners and call them to action. “The dignity of human life must never be taken away,” rang the voice of the late Pope John Paul II on the church’s TV screen as part of Welch’s short video presentation at the meeting. “Even for someone who has done great evil.” The video highlighted points including unfair applications that primarily affect the poor and minorities, unproven deterrent factors and interviews with crime victims who claim the death penalty failed to bring them the kind of closure Vicki Rios-Martinez anticipates. “The church, at the urging of its bishops, is inviting us to embrace forgiveness,” Welch said. “The role of punishment is to change someone’s behavior. You don’t kill to convince people you don’t want them to kill.” Welch pointed to the latest opinion polls conducted by Zogby International in which Catholics are showing less support for the death penalty than before with an estimated 47 percent of those surveyed being opposed. Stephen Pilkentton, a returning Catholic and St. Mary’s parishioner, attended the seminar to get better educated about the issue, admitting he’s unsure of his position. As a husband and father of three children, he said he is capable of anything in defense of his family. While the former emergency medical technician and past member of the Peace Corps is all about saving lives, he is unsure how he would feel when faced with a life-or-death decision as punishment for a crime. “I think it’s important for us to challenge one another,” Pilkentton said. “I am pro-life, but came here on the fence about this issue.” The bishops continue to encourage Catholics to value the sanctity of all human life and to foster solutions that protect the dignity of human beings. They are asking Catholics to get involved, pray for families impacted by crime and punishment, educate people about the church’s teachings and become an advocate by contacting elected officials to voice opposition to the death penalty. Such efforts seem unlikely to be effective in time to make a difference for Schwab. Barring a last-minute stay by the courts, Mark Dean Schwab will become the 65th person to die in Florida since executions were reinstated in 1976. A hooded executioner, paid $150 for the service, will inject the convicted murder with a three-drug cocktail designed to stop the heart and all internal organs within a few minutes as more than two dozen witnesses observe. A contingent of Catholics from the Orlando Diocese plans to be outside the Florida State Prison, as has become their custom for executions, to pray for an end to the death penalty, for Schwab and for the Rios-Martinez family. See related story: Death penalty opponents to journey for prayer vigil.
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