WTI sends letter to NH Legislators

Dear New Hampshire Legislators,

My Name is Kirk Bloodsworth. I am the Executive Director of Witness to Innocence. This year, my associate, Ray Krone, and I testified in favor of HB455 in both New Hampshire houses to repeal the death penalty.

Ray and I are both Death row exonerees. We were both sentenced to death and both innocent. Both of us were honorably discharged from the service, me the Marines and Ray the Airforce. Ray and I are both DNA exonerees. Out of the 165 innocent people exonerated since 1973, only 20 were DNA exonerations. This is telling of a system that cannot be sure 100% of the time. When it comes to death, sure is not sure enough.

In 1985, I was tried and sentenced to death for a murder of a little girl that I never met. After almost 9 years, and two years on death row, DNA saved my life. But it will not save everyone from wrongful conviction and possible execution. For every 10 executions one innocent person is exonerated.

You all voted to abolish the death penalty. Please don’t let politics rule the day. The Governor is not the final say, you are! Vote as you stated and override the veto. Don’t let politics get in the way of facts – the death penalty will not save any of us, but it sure will kill the innocent. Don’t let it kill anyone else, ever!

Please vote to kill the thing that almost killed two veterans like Ray and I, because if it could happen to us, it could happen to anyone in America, even in New Hampshire.

Sincerely,

Kirk Bloodsworth

Executive Director

Witness to Innocence