On Tuesday I joined again with members of the Missouri Catholic Conference and Missourians Against the Death Penalty at a noon vigil outside the Governors Office at the State Capitol. We were there to oppose the 10th execution that has ocurred during the six year tenure of Governor Parson. We stood in prayerful support of three distraught cousins of Brian Dorsey who was later executed that evening for the 2006 murder of his cousin ( and theirs) , New Bloomfield residents , Sarah Bonnie and her husband, Benjamin. His lawyers said the the murder had ocurred during a drug induced psychosis and that he had been rehabilited and has been recognized by prison officials as a model prisoner. Numerous corrections officers, state legislators, concerned citizens, including his former high school football coach, Coach Pete Atkins, and members of his family signed petions for clemency. Governor Parson again ignored pleas for mercy. In my prayer offered at the somber event I lamented that “Governor Parson is guided by the retribution of his politics and not the mercy of his faith…. Gracious mercy is called for and the Governor has chosen the way of death. We lament that our state continues to commit murder rather than the redemptive alternative of clemency which would have allowed Brian to continue the path of his reformed life.” Tragically, that will no longer be possible. So help us God! 

Rev. Dr. John H. Bennett
Disciples of Christ Clergy (ret.)

“Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”
(Amos 5:24)