January 12, 2007

Catholic Conference supports Death Row plea for life in prison without parole

By Mary Ann Wyand

Indiana Death Row inmate Norman Timberlake told the state Parole Board on Jan. 8 that he did not kill Indiana State Master Trooper Michael Greene during a roadside traffic stop along I-65 in Indianapolis in 1993.

Last week, Timberlake’s attorneys filed a third legal appeal to stop his execution by chemical injection, which is scheduled for Jan. 19 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Ind.

In December, Timberlake’s attorneys appealed his conviction by a Marion Superior Court jury on the basis of mental illness. Timberlake is 59.

In recent weeks, his attorneys also filed an appeal charging that execution by lethal injection causes unnecessary pain.

The five-member Parole Board will conduct a clemency hearing for Timberlake on Jan. 16 at the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis.

Glenn Tebbe, executive director of the Indiana Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Church, said he hopes the Parole Board, a U.S. District Court judge or Gov. Mitch Daniels will commute Timberlake’s capital sentence to life in prison without parole.

“The Catholic Conference and the bishops have a long-standing position on this that there is no reason to have an execution and that life imprisonment would be sufficient punishment for the crime,” Tebbe said on Jan. 8.

“This case is further compromised somewhat because of the mental status of Mr. Timberlake,” he said. “We’re hopeful that Gov. Daniels will commute his sentence to life imprisonment and not proceed with an execution if the appeals are not fruitful.”

Tebbe noted that the governor commuted the capital sentence of Arthur Baird II to life in prison without parole in 2005 because of Baird’s mental illness.

“Because of that precedent and because of Mr. Timberlake’s mental state, we think that would be an appropriate resolution to this case,” Tebbe said, speaking on behalf of Indiana’s five bishops. †

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