Mother of murder victim opposes death penalty

Before 1998, Marguerite Marsh never gave much thought to the ethics of the death penalty. But that was the year her daughter Catherine's body was found in a Poughkeepsie home -- one of eight women murdered by Kendall Francois, who hid the bodies in his parents' attic and basement.

Mrs. Marsh, a parishioner of St. Paul's Church in Schenectady, calls him "the 6-foot-four, 320-pound monster who strangled my daughter with his bare hands."

But she didn't want him to be put to death.

Background

Catherine had been struggling with drug addiction, but she was planning to come home and enter rehab when she disappeared in 1996.

Two years later, Mrs. Marsh stood with the family members of other victims and watched her daughter's murderer enter a courtroom.

"I didn't know how I was going to feel," she told The Evangelist. "The other victims' families became so enraged. By the time he left the courtroom, I was really feeling a little sorry for him."

The other families demanded the death penalty. When Mrs. Marsh was asked how she felt, she told the district attorney, "You don't take another person's life. To me, I would be as much a murderer as the perpetrator himself."

Justice served

It took two years for Mr. Francois' trial to begin; in the end, the DA accepted his guilty plea on all counts. He is now serving life in prison without possibility of parole.

"For me, justice has been served," Mrs. Marsh stated. She believes that capital punishment does not help the families of victims.

"I have seen how revenge consumes and hardens a person," she said. She prefers to "follow the teachings of Jesus, to have love and compassion. There is no closure; how can there be, when you lose a loved one? Catherine is always in my heart. But I move forward through the grace of God."

The death penalty, she added, "is not justice. It is revenge. It is legalized killing. It does not bring back your loved one."

Working for justice

Since her daughter's death, Mrs. Marsh has joined the diocesan Commission on Restorative Justice, which promotes efforts like conferencing (meetings between perpetrators and victims).

While she noted that restorative justice would not change Mr. Francois' prison sentence, she plans to write to him when she feels ready.

"I'd like [to ask] the question why," she said of Catherine's murder, although she added, "I don't think I would get an answer."

[Anti-death penalty activists urge Catholics who want to learn more to visit www.nyscatholic.org, where visitors can click on the "take action" button to reach a ready-made letter to their legislators; and www.nyadp.org, which has a host of information on the death penalty, including a statement by religious leaders (among them, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard) on opposing capital punishment.]

(8/12/04)