Former Hartford Pastor, Father of Murder Victim, to Speak on Death Penalty Sunday

From the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. The photo is of Walter Everett and his sons Wayne (left) and Scott (right), from a 2004 article in Rolling Stone.
---------------------------

Talk by Rev. Walter Everett of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights

Sunday Morning Service, November 14, 2010, 10:00am

Middletown Christ Lutheran Church
300 Washington Street, Middletown

In 1987, Rev. Walter Everett’s son Scott was shot and murdered in Bridgeport, Connecticut, at the age of 24. On Sunday, November 14th at 10:00am Everett will speak in Middletown about the Death Penalty.

For almost a year after the murder, Rev. Everett’s emotional state moved from rage to depression. He found it difficult to even go through the motions of his work as pastor of a United Methodist Church. Eventually, he came to recognize his need to move beyond his anger and he found healing through forgiveness.

Rev. Everett currently serves on the board of directors of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, an organization of family members of murder victims and family members of the executed who challenge the notion that executions are the way to achieve justice or closure for the family that murder leaves behind.

Everett has testified before legislative committees on numerous occasions, including the Connecticut General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee in 2005 and 2009. His story has been featured on NPR, Rolling Stone, and a variety of other media outlets.