Former Death Row Inmate Protests Andrew Cook Execution in Macon
NewsCentral Staff
Story Created:
Feb 21, 2013 at 11:09 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Feb 22, 2013 at 12:46 AM EDT
As we all wait to see if the execution will take place Thursday night, a group of anti-capitol punishment protestors are marching in front of Macon City Hall.
That group included a former death row inmate is speaking out about the planned execution of Andrew Cook.
WGXA's Chace Ambrose spoke to Andrew Legare who is fighting to end the death penalty in Georgia.
Andrew Legare was sentenced to death for a murder he committed at age 17 while on the run from the Youth Development Center in Milledgeville.
He is now a free man with a unique perspective on the death penalty.
"We don't believe that taking life solves anything. We don't believe that you can validate and honor and cherish life by taking another life. There's one victim's family and actually an execution creates another family that grieves. So it's a vicious cycle that keeps going around and around and around.
The economic point is to execute someone takes at least $2 million in the state of Georgia. Some states it takes three or four. $2 million could incarserate a man for over 40 years in a maximum security facility and still be less money. So we think its a waste of resources that could be put towards programs in prisons. 95% of the people that are in prison are going to get out one day. They'd be better served to get out with counseling, job skills.
And morally we just don't see how taking life serves to show that taking life is wrong." -Andrew Legare/Former Death Row Inmate
Legare and his wife are strongly opposed to the death penalty and organize protests whenever a Georgia execution is scheduled.
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