Joubert
Continued from Page 5
Joubert when he was committing crimes. The
other from Sister Helen Prejean, the author of
Dead Man Walking, which was recently made
into a movie.
After Pitre read the letters for the broadcast
media, questions followed.
Again, the question of his chances came up.
“Everyone is telling me 'hey, you don’t have
a snowball’s chance in Hell,”’ he said.
“I’m just going to keep pushing myself.”
More questions, another claim that he made
no attempt to delay the execution, and another
asking why the state was hurrying to execute
Joubert and the press conference ended quietly.
Three blocks away and twenty minutes later,
the Nebraska Civil Liberties Union held a press
conference to talk about actions they filed.
The NCLU, all on Monday, asked the State
Supreme Court for a stay of execution, claimed in
Sarpy County Court that death by electrocution
was cruel and unusual punishment, and raised
other legal appeals in U.S. District Courtin Omaha.
By Wednesday, all three were rejected in
their respective courts.
At the conference, Matt Lemieux, the execu
tive director of the NCLU, showed the media
pictures of bodies after execution by electrocu
tion. The bodies were burned and discolored.
Lemieux, after outlining the court actions and
stats on the few states that use electrocution,
recognized that they would not turn some Nebras
kans away from supporting the electric chair.
“But those Nebraskans who can understand
and recognize the sheer brutality and cruelty of
state-sanctioned death by electrocution... will
surely realize that the electric chair has no place
in our society and our state, no matter how
gruesome the crime,” he said, reading from a
press release.
Again, questions followed, clarifying what
the NCLU was doing. The conference broke up,
and some media headed for another demonstra
tion outside of the governor’s mansion.
Wednesday
It is only noon, but Pitre is already nervous.
The hearing to consider a clemency hearing
is a little more than an hour away.
In the sixth-floor conference room in Gold’s
Galleria, Pitre, two volunteers and only three
media members sit. Pitre, whose hands are shak
ing, but not as bad as the day before, speaks fast.
Today, Pitre reads a letter from Pope John
Paul n’s representative in the United States,
Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan. The arch
bishop, in the letter, makes a plea for Joubert’s
life on behalf of the Pope.
“The most important spiritual leader in the
western world is appealing to the governor, the
attorney general, the secretary of state of the
State of Nebraska,” Pitre said.
An hour after the conference, Pitre meets all
three face to face.
The Nebraska Pardons Board, made up of Gov.
Ben Nelson, Attorney General Don Stenberg and
Secretary of State Scott Moore awaited Pitre.
Before the hearing, Pitre admitted he was
intimidated, but undaunted. He prayed with
friends before speaking to the board.
In a room with seven TV cameras, three
newspaper photographers, more than 60 people
and the state’s three most powerful men, Pitre
made his plea for a clemency hearing for Joubert.
In a speech that lasted only fifteen minutes,
Pitre told the board he is not an attorney and not
making a legal appeal.
“I have come here not to appeal to the law but
to your hearts,” he said.
Pitre said a hearing was needed so the board
could see Joubert’s change, not read about it in
documents. In a hearing, he said, the board
could hear how he is consumed with remorse.
Joubert’s therapist, Laurel Ban Han, gave
short, unprepared testimony, repeating Pitre’s
plea for a hearing.
Just as board members were to close down
the hearing, Eric Sheers, the executive director of
the Murder, Assault, Rape, Robbery Assis
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Quoting Bible passages, Jessie Myles, left, and Larry Ball, president of the
Plainsmen, face off Sunday during an anti-death penalty rally held at the State
Capitol Sunday. Myles was against the death penalty, Ball for it.
tance Center, asked to speak. He had a letter from
Judy Eberle, the mother of one of the victims.
In the letter, Eberle said Joubert should be
executed because Joubert gave no thought to
" her son’s pain and suffering. She wrote Joubert
answered her son’s pleas to take him to a hos
pital by stabbing him to death.
“Was Danny asking for something close to
clemency like Joubert is today?” Sheers read to
the board. “I think so, and Danny deserved it.”
Eberle wrote that she lives in fear that Joubert
would get a life sentence and get out on parole.
She wrote she knew Joubert would come for her
if he did get out of prison.
“I don’t want to suffer any longer,” she
wrote. “This is enough. You will help our families
out very much if you just get this over...”
Pitre was given a chance to rebut the mothers
letter, but it did no good.
The board unanimously denied Joubert a
hearing. They then unanimously denied com
muting his sentence.
“I am at peace with the decision,” Nelson said
before the vote. “I am not at peace with the
crimes committed, nor will I ever be. Nor will
anyone ever be.”
In the crush of media outside the hearing
room, Pitre said the result was not unexpected.
“What can I say? People told me this was
going to happen.”
Pitre said he would spend the next days with
Joubert, up to the execution.
He turned, hugged a volunteer, and walked
away from the crowd of media.
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1979 film
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