Don’t execute my mother’s killer, I forgive him

I was 11 years old in 1997 when Geoffrey West shot and killed my mother, Margaret Parrish Berry, while robbing the Attalla gas station where she worked. Mr. West was sentenced to death. His execution date is set for tonight, September 25. He is due to be killed by nitrogen gas. But I do not want the state of Alabama to kill him. That won’t bring my mother back; it will only add to the pain I have lived with since the night she was shot. I believe there is a better way.

My mother was the person I loved most in the world. Her absence, and the senseless way she died, has cast a long shadow over my life. Even so, the weeks since I learned that Governor Ivey set an execution date for Mr. West have been some of the most unsettling I can recall. My dearest wish is to meet with Mr. West. Yet, it’s not clear who has the power to make that happen or how to ask them directly.

I was a child when Mr. West took my mother’s life – old enough to understand what had happened but too young to process it. I had no say at the trial, and I’ve had no say since then. No one from the Alabama attorney general’s office called me in April to say they had requested an execution date. No one from the governor’s office called in July when Governor Ivey set it. If my wife hadn’t stumbled across an article on Facebook, I’m not sure when I would have learned.

I believe in the teachings of Jesus and in His words on the Mount, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). My faith teaches that every trial we endure brings us closer to salvation. It teaches submission to God’s will.

I believe that in seeking to execute Mr. West, the state of Alabama is playing God. I don’t want anyone to exact revenge in my name, nor in my mother’s. I believe life without the possibility of parole is just punishment. I believe there is an ending to this story where Mr. West and I find comfort in each other and in the healing power of forgiveness.

I want to tell Mr. West that I forgive him. And I want to ask questions, both about what happened that night and about who he is as a man. In some ways, I suppose I just want to be in a room with him. Through his legal team, Mr. West has agreed to my request. Even in what may be the last hours of his life, he is willing to spend time with me and reckon with the harm he caused. I believe that speaks well of him, despite the deadly mistake he made the night he killed my mother. I know that she forgives him and that she would want me to sit down with him.

The criminal justice system is not built with victims’ needs, wishes, and well-being in mind. I know that as well as anybody, because what is being done in my name is not what I need or want. I know that clemency is a lot to ask for. But having spoken with a restorative justice specialist who is also in communication with Mr. West, I feel hopeful there could be a future where he and I might sit down together. Where we might pray together.

But time is working against us. Whether or not she can see her way to granting clemency, at the very least I hope Governor Ivey will grant a reprieve, which she has the authority to do. That time would allow Mr. West, his family, and mine to engage in vital healing conversations. I need time to heal.

I have observed the process around other executions in Alabama. I know the attorney general would welcome me at Holman Prison to watch as Mr. West is killed. I know I would be invited to speak at a press conference afterward. But that is not what I want. When I go to Holman, I want to speak with Mr. West heart to heart. I want to tell him I forgive him, that my mother forgives him, and that God loves him.

My life has been very hard. I hope that Governor Ivey will see her way to granting me this measure of comfort, and I pray that she will find it in herself to spare Mr. West’s life.

This commentary first appeared on Alabama Reflector, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.