Death Penalty Foes Stage Protest

Death penalty opponents from across Orange County gathered Monday to tell the world that they do not want anyone killed in the name of keeping them safe.

Among the 30 who protested the scheduled execution of Jaturun Siripongs were public defenders from Santa Ana, high school students from Tustin and Newport Beach and a Roman Catholic priest from Brea.

“We are opposed to the death penalty because it doesn’t work,” said Father John McAndrew of St. Angela Church, who helped organize the protest vigil for a group called Death Penalty Focus.

“It’s random and it teaches violence. Death is not the answer to violent crime--the death penalty is a surrender to violence.”

Gathering at MainPlace/Santa Ana during the evening rush hour, the group waved placards bearing such slogans as “Execute Justice, Not People” and “Executions Teach Vengeance and Violence.”

They lit votive candles they had lined up along the curb. Then they walked about a mile to Circle Plaza in Orange, where they offered prayers for both Siripongs and his victims and sang hymns.

Siripongs, a 44-year-old former Buddhist monk convicted of killing two people in 1981, was scheduled to die by lethal injection at San Quentin.

“We hope to bring some light into the darkness,” McAndrew said of the vigil, which was to continue until the demonstrators received word that the execution had taken place.

“Death is just not the answer. When they inject Mr. Siripongs at 12:01 a.m. I’m not going to feel any safer.”

Most said that they were not defending Siripongs specifically as much as registering their opposition to the death penalty in general.

“I don’t know enough about the case to say whether he’s innocent,” said Roger Alexander, an Orange County public defender not involved in the case. “We’re against capital punishment totally--life is God’s gift, and it’s not for human beings to take away.”

Liane Aronchick, a high school student from Tustin, said she was there to make a statement.

“The death penalty doesn’t solve anything,” she said. “It’s acting against violence with violence. I just want to be heard, to kick up a fuss so people know that this isn’t going unnoticed.”

Judging from the response of passersby, the group succeeded in drawing attention to their cause. While some passing motorists honked and waved in apparent support, others yelled comments such as “Kill them all!”

Dan Noel, for one, said that he didn’t intend to let negative reactions deter him.

“The death penalty is wrong, and the eve of an execution is a good time to say so,” said the 39-year-old electrical engineer from Costa Mesa, who attended the vigil with his two young sons.

The protest, Noel said, “is going to make us all feel a little better. I would feel guilty if I weren’t here on the eve of an execution.”