ALABAMA - Will Berry was 11 when his mother was killed. Thirty-three-year-old Margaret Parrish Berry was shot in the back of the head during a robbery at the gas station where she worked.
Geoffrey Todd West was 21 when he pulled the trigger, a decision he says he wishes each day that he could take back. Berry and West exchanged letters ahead of West’s scheduled execution by nitrogen gas Thursday in Alabama. West expressed his remorse, and Berry offered forgiveness. Berry is asking Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to stop the execution, saying he doesn’t want anyone else to die. “I forgive this guy, and I don’t want him to die,” Berry said in a telephone interview. “I don’t want the state to take revenge in my name or my family’s name for my mother.” Berry on Tuesday joined death penalty opponents in delivering a petition to the governor’s office requesting she halt the execution. “There shouldn’t be any more death. There should be healing and moving forward,” Berry said. He added that his mother taught him the importance of forgiveness. “Vengeance isn’t for the state. It’s for the Lord,” he said. (Jamaica Gleaner)
