Note: the following is an article I wrote, from the upcoming issue of the Michigan Socialist. -- MartinWhy there is no death penalty in Michigan
OVER THE LAST few years, and especially recently, there has been a lot of talk in the media and among capitalist politicians to bring the death penalty to Michigan.
In the wake of the deaths of the two Detroit police officers, the talk has become more of a hysterical scream.
But it is worth noting that it is necessary to say “bring the death penalty to Michigan” in an article such as this, instead of “bring
back the death penalty.” Why?
Michigan has an honorable and remarkable distinction: it was the first English-speaking state to abolish the death penalty. In fact, the State of Michigan constitutionally prohibits the death penalty, and has since 1847.
What caused the State of Michigan to forever abolish the death penalty? Two early cases provide the answer.
In 1828, Patrick Fitzpatrick, a resident of Detroit, was living for a time at an inn across the river in Sandwich (now Windsor), Ontario.
One day, the daughter of the innkeeper was found raped and murdered. Fitzpatrick was arrested and accused of committing the crime. After a brief trial, and based on circumstantial evidence, Fitzpatrick was found guilty and shortly thereafter hanged.
Seven years later, Fitzpatrick’s former roommate at the inn in Sandwich lay on his deathbed. Wanting to clear his conscience before dying, he confessed to raping and killing the innkeeper’s daughter.
The residents of Detroit and the rest of Michigan were enraged at the idea that an innocent man was executed. But this rage was not isolated to one case.
Two years after Fitzpatrick was executed, Stephen Simmons was put on trial and convicted of killing his pregnant wife while in a drunken rage.
The local sheriff, hastily appointed after his predecessor resigned (because he did not believe that Simmons should be executed), made the execution into a gala event.
The execution took on the air of a carnival, with bleachers built around the execution site (where the Downtown Branch of the Detroit Public Library sits today), formal invitations issued, hotels and inns filled to capacity, brass bands, and local merchants hawking their wares.
As Simmons stood on the gallows, the rope around his neck, the sheriff asked him if he had any last words. Those words echo today:
Show pity, Lord, O Lord, forgive;
Let a repenting rebel live.
Are not Thy mercies full and free?
May not a sinner trust in Thee?
My crimes are great, but can’t surpass
The power and glory of Thy grace.
Great God, Thy nature hath no bound,
So, let Thy pardoning love be found.
Simmons died before the last echoes of this poem did.
The audience was stunned and deeply moved by Simmons’ appeal to the heavens. One witness called the execution both “cruel and vindictive.”
The result of these two cases was a near-universal rejection of the death penalty among the citizens of Michigan.
Thus, when the state constitution was being rewritten in the spring of 1846, delegates to the convention included a constitutional abolition of capital punishment.
On March 1, 1847, the new constitution went into effect ... and into the pages of history.
Today, March 1 is celebrated around the world as International Death Penalty Abolition Day, marking the anniversary of the implementation of the Michigan State Constitution.
It is fitting that, 157 years after that historic day, the people of Michigan are once again looking at the question. Our only hope is that this important and inspiring slice of history becomes a part of the discussion.
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