Coronavirus Victims: Executioner And Anti-Death Penalty Activist Jerry Givens

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/20/859713818/coronavirus-victims-executioner-and-anti-death-penalty-activist-jerry-givens

May 20, 20203:46 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered

Jerry Givens, who served as Virginia's chief executioner for 17 years and later became a prominent voice against capital punishment, has died at the age of 67 from COVID-19.

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SHAPIRO: His job was to watch inmates during their final 24 hours and prep them for execution. Sometimes he prayed alongside them, and then he pressed the button for electrocution or the plunger of a syringe.

KELLY: Givens said, at first, he felt his work gave him a sense of purpose.


GIVENS: I thought justice was being done. If you an executioner and you enjoying what you're doing, you shouldn't be in that position.

SHAPIRO: That's him talking to The Washington Post in 2013. Eventually, his opinions began to shift, and he held a growing distrust of the criminal justice system. At one point, he was set to execute a man who was later found innocent and freed.


GIVENS: If that killer was still out there and then I took an innocent life, I'm in the same boat as - predicament this guy's in. He took an innocent life. I just took an innocent life.

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KELLY: It wasn't until Givens found himself in jail in 1999 that his time as an executioner came to an end. He was accused of money laundering. He spent four years behind bars, though he maintained his innocence until his death.

SHAPIRO: In prison, he turned toward religion. And upon his release, he became a prominent opponent of the death penalty.

GIVENS: Society don't know what goes on behind the curtain. I think now that they are aware of what's going on - and I think they will have a different outlook.

KELLY: Jerry Givens died on April 13. He was 67 years old.