Victims Beg Mississippi Governor: ‘Please Don’t Put Our Family Through This Horrible Execution’

Two sisters are begging Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to spare their brother, the murderer of their children, from execution today. In one terrible day, Henry “Curtis” Jackson killed four children, paralyzed another, and stabbed one of his sisters. But to the mothers of the murdered children, this isn’t a reason for yet another killing.

Jackson is set to be put to death by the state later today through lethal injection. But according to the AP, two of Jackson’s siblings are hoping that the Governor will spare him, because his death will just be another emotional blow to an already-traumatized family. “The dying,” one sister said, “is going to have to stop somewhere”:

“As a mother who lost two babies, all I’m asking is that you not make me go through the killing of my brother,” she wrote.

She told the AP in a telephone interview that she has forgiven her brother over the years. “If they kill him, they’re doing the same thing that he did. The dying is going to have to stop somewhere.”

Another sister and her husband, Glenda and Andrew Kuyoro, have also asked Bryant to spare Curtis Jackson in a letter dated May 15. The couple said they have tried for years to understand why Jackson attacked his relatives, and they know their questions may never be answered, but that they surely won’t if he dies.

“We are the victims in this case, and we are begging you not to let Curtis be killed. You can keep him in Parchman forever, but please don’t put our family through this horrible execution,” the Kuyoros wrote. “We are not asking you to take pity on Curtis, we’re asking you to show US mercy. We have been through enough.“

States that use the death penalty are increasingly becoming outliers, even if the practice is not actually outlawed.