Faith leaders are calling for an end to the death penalty, ahead of a planned execution Thursday morning. Jeffrey Weisheit is scheduled to be executed before sunrise at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
Bishop Robert McClory of the Diocese of Gary is set to lead a prayer vigil outside the prison this evening. In a video message, he acknowledged the pain caused by Weisheit's "life-altering" crimes.
"But at the same time, we look at our society, and we say we have the means to protect our citizenry by life in prison," McClory said. "We don't need to resort to the death penalty, as a means of protection of our society."
McClory called on the faithful to end what he called, "the cycle of the culture of death." "The time has come for us to pray and to work for the end to the death penalty," McClory said.
Weisheit was sentenced to death for killing five-year-old Caleb Lynch and eight-year-old Alyssa Lynch, in a 2010 house fire near Evansville.
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