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Witness to an execution
Seeing Gretzler's death conveys meaning of Torah portion
BARRY M. AARONS
Special to Jewish News
On Wednesday, June 3, Donald Gretzler died. I know - I was there to witness it. Gretzler, who was convicted of murdering four Arizonans, who never stood trial for the execution slaying of nine people including two children in California and who also killed four other people during a murderous rampage over 20 years ago, was executed by the state by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 3:11 p.m.
I attended at the invitation of the state Department of Corrections as a witness for the state. I accepted because I have always considered myself a supporter of the death penalty and believed it to be a good opportunity to test my convictions. I came away with my views unchanged.
I share this because the Torah portion of a couple of weeks ago spoke of the eye-for-an-eye concept and talked of stoning to death for certain transgressions. Those thoughts stuck with me. Execution by lethal injection is today's stoning. As a society, we have evolved. Witnessing this execution was a culmination of studying that parshah.
The execution process for the witnesses is solemn and efficient. There is little time wasted and there is little activity required. Security is exceptionally tight - as one could well imagine - the prison personnel are tight-lipped, professional and almost devoid of emotion.
You stand in the "death house," as it is called, awaiting the appointed hour of execution. You are with a few of the family members of the condemned, families of the victims, a half dozen members of the media and the other 14 state's witnesses. It is warm in there but not overbearing. There is a large blue wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling curtain in front of you.
Then, without warning, the curtain opened and Gretzler was there, behind a glass window, lying on a hospital-type gurney. A white blanket covered him to the middle of his chest. He was wearing a light blue, open-collared short-sleeved shirt. His right arm was extended toward us displaying gauze wrapped around from the elbow down to mid forearm. He lay there quietly, unemotionally.
Terry Stewart, the state corrections director, walked into the room where Gretzler lay and announced that all appeals and stays had been completed. He then asked him if he had any last words.
Gretzler spoke quietly - the witnesses strained to hear him. He said he was sorry; he asked for a moment to compose himself. He spoke some more, but I did not understand him. I heard light sobbing coming from his family just a few feet from me. Again he asked for a moment for composure and he went on. Again I could not understand him. One more moment of composure and another apology.
Warden Meg Savage, a pleasant-looking, average-height woman then took Stewart's place and read the sentence, beginning with "Being convicted of the murder of . . . ." and ending with the fact that Gretzler "is sentenced to die . . ."
Very solemn, very professional. She left the room.
I saw his sister mouth, "goodbye."
A moment or so passed, Gretzler took a deep breath, his mouth quivered. Another deep breath and a slight heaving of the chest ... and then nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Stewart walked back into the room and announced that the condemned had been pronounced dead at 3:11 p.m. Solemn. Professional.
They took great care to separate the executed man's family from the press as the group left the viewing room of the "death house." They kept the state's witnesses separate from the others. They kept the victims' families to themselves. The media was kept at a distance.
We walked across the prison yard to the gate, through the security, outside.
I have been lucky in my life to test the beliefs I have - to see if those beliefs on critical issues were real or just the rhetoric of a religious or political moment. This was one of those moments - an opportunity if you will.
The Torah speaks about an eye for an eye - of stoning to death for certain transgressions. That is what I studied a few weeks ago. I observed the modern-day version of that on Wednesday, June 3. The meaning in reality had the same meaning of the studied words.
I am a more educated Jew for having had the experience. And I still believe in the death penalty.
Barry Aarons is a former gubernatorial aide. This commentary is adapted with permission from a recent letter Aarons sent to Rabbi Rick Sherwin of Beth El Congregation, where Aarons is a member.
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