The Alabama Supreme Court set September 22nd as the execution date for Alan Eugene Miller, a severely mentally disturbed man. Talking Points are posted on our website http://www.phadp.org/?q=alerts. Please do all you can!

We are still stunned by the total lack of respect for the wishes of the family of Faith Hall, the murder victim by this state which usually justifies executions by touting the need for closure for the family.

We also discussed how Joe continued to be true to himself by initially refusing legal help, refusing a last meal, refusing to sign a last will and burial instructions, refusing the presence of a spiritual advisor at the execution, no family visits, all of which we think he may have felt would have been acquiescing to the state by giving an appearance that things were alright. Although we certainly would not recommend filing pro se, we do respect his steadfastness in refusing to validate a system that had failed him from birth. At this point we do not know and may never know whether Joe planned last words as by the time the Press was admitted after a 3 plus hour wait, Joe appeared to be asleep or sedated and was lying there with his eyes closed. Questions remain!

We are doing our best to come to terms with our own feelings about Joe’s execution. It is helpful that we worked hard from the time he got his date at being there for him while at the same time doing our best to respect his need for privacy. We are sad!

It is most probably good that we now will have to begin work on writing articles for our next edition of Wings of Hope.

In closing and as always, we continue to thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. You encourage us and make all the difference. Stay safe!

                                                                                                       Esther