Bud Welch

Bud was filled with rage after Julie's murder and for the first month, only wanted to see her killer fry. He self medicated his pain with alcohol, and his drinking steadily increased until about a year later when he found healing in the ability to forgive the killers, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

Bud also talked about his meeting with the man he described as a "bigger victim" of the bombing: Timothy's father, Bill McVeigh, who has to live with not only the loss of his son, but also awareness of the suffering his son brought to so many others.

Bud called Timothy's execution “a staged political event”. He has spoken with people close to nearly all the bombing victims and said there wasn't a single one of them that felt better as a result of the execution. Several told him it didn't have the affect they expected.

Gary Gauger

The second speaker, Gary Gauger, was convicted in 1994 of the 1993 murders of his parents and sentenced to death. It was later proven that the murders were actually done by members of a motorcycle gang who he said are infamous for "random acts of violence to raise money to support a criminal enterprise".

Gary cited the history of capital punishment in America and gave numerous examples of how unjust actions of law enforcement and criminal justice personnel have contributed to wrongful incarceration and death sentencing. He even gave several examples of recent unjust executions that debunk the myth that no innocent person is executed in this country. He said there are likely many more, but detective work on a criminal case usually ends with execution.

In Gary's own case, the police report stated that he "showed no emotion" at the crime scene, and this was frequently cited in his trial. He said this was because he was in emotional shock and was trying to be as helpful as he could. Another claim that he had failed a polygraph test turned out to be merely a flat line due to fatigue. He counted about 150 lies during the prosecution of his case and said the policemen responsible for most of them have since been promoted. The only real evidence against him was a jailhouse snitch - who also lied. A Northwestern University professor eventually went to bat for him and obtained a taped confession from the real killers in the fall of 1995. Despite this, Gary wasn't released until October, 1996.

Gary mentioned his concern about the easy availability of handguns and said we need to "eliminate the immediate opportunity" for criminals as well as eliminating the sources of frustration that lead to drug abuse and crime. He also said that when a prisoner is executed, everyone on death row experiences a sense of depression - even the guards!

The speeches were followed by a question and answer session.

When asked about his loss of opportunity to mourn the loss of his parents, Gary said he still hasn't gotten over it, and experiences occasional bouts of anxiety.

Bud's response to a question about the current attempt to bring the issue to the voters in Minnesota was that this might be a way the governor could "wipe the blood off his hands". I suspect that it's more an attempt to have the matter decided by people who are less informed than those in the legislature and who are apt to base their choice on emotions more-so than intellect.

Jan Schultz, a public defender, gave the closing remarks, which were mostly an appeal for support for MNADP. She said that even if the death penalty legislation doesn't pass in this session, it is a "gathering and imminent threat". Gee, where have we heard those words before? This time, I suspect they're for real.