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Five years ago outside the Walls Unit in Huntsville, on the night the State of Texas prepared to execute Lois Robison's son, young photographer Scott Langley watched as she screamed and cried on the sidewalk. Eighteen years earlier, Robison's son Larry, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had killed and mutilated his roommate and four neighbors in Fort Worth, the town where Langley was born and grew up. Outside Texas' death-row unit, Langley, just out of SMU, was supposed to be taking pictures of the execution-night vigil. But for once he'd forgotten and left his camera in the car - and he couldn't bear to go back and get it. Instead of capturing the moment on film, the 22-year-old instead found himself captured by what he saw and heard that night. It changed him forever.   More...

A Wake County District Court judge expressed his admiration for 10 death penalty opponents last week before convicting them of trespass during a bench trial. "Having grown up in the '60s, I admire your convictions," Judge Don Overby told the defendants on June 19, some of whom had been arrested four times prior to the last four executions at Raleigh's Central Prison. Overby, who told the group he teaches a criminal law course at N.C. State, appeared apologetic as he issued a prayer for judgment continued for the 10 in lieu of a more severe sentence. That means the conviction won't show up on their criminal records and the charges will be listed as pending indefinitely. Each defendant also was assessed $110 in court costs, but no fine. After repeating a second time that he admired their convictions, Overby added, "But it gets down to what is the law of this state. ... Each of you knowingly violated the law of our state, and my job demands that I uphold the law."  More...

Ten death penalty protesters were found guilty of second-degree trespassing Monday despite the judge's admiration. Protesters said they are not guilty because their actions were based on moral law. They believe executions are murder. “If a greater wrong is going to take place then you have a moral obligation to stop it from happening,” said Bill Gural, a death penalty protester. “You know, it's true we crossed a line when we went to Central Prison, but I feel that long ago a line crossed us -- the line between justice and vengeance and the line between what's morally right and what's morally wrong,” said protester Beth Brockman. The judge admitted he was sympathetic to their cause saying, “Having grown up in the ‘60s, I admire you completely,” but that admiration did not factor into his decision. He found them guilty.   More...

They discussed the Book of Romans and the civil rights movement, listened to an expert explain how the Catholic Church opposes executions and asked a judge to overrule the death penalty.But in the end, a Wake County judge on Monday found 10 death penalty opponents guilty of second-degree trespassing after they admitted in court that despite warnings from police, they had trespassed onto Central Prison. After finding each guilty, Judge Don Overby continued the judgment for each defendant. This disposition means no conviction will appear on the defendants' records and the charges will be listed as pending indefinitely. The protesters represented themselves during the unusual hearing. The normally bustling Wake County courtroom was packed with defendants and lawyers who waited patiently to settle misdemeanor offenses while the death penalty opponents had their day in court. "We chose to break that law because we felt a greater law was being broken," said Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, 25, who took the stand on behalf of the 10 defendants. "We knowingly trespassed to prevent a homicide that was planned by the state."  More...

Ten death penalty opponents accused of blocking the entrance to Central Prison during two executions earlier this year were convicted Monday of trespassing, but they will not be penalized for their convictions. The demonstrators attempted to enter the prison on the nights of the executions of Perrie Dyon Simpson in January and Patrick Moody in March. They were arrested each time as they crossed into the prison grounds. "We chose to break that law because we thought that a greater law was being broken," said Johnathan Wilson Hargrove, one of the protestors who was arrested.   More...

On a cool April evening in Raleigh, 63-year-old Katie Glover sat down to a meal of vegetarian lasagna and fresh fruit. Glover had come from Charlotte to say goodbye to her little brother, Willie "Junior" Brown, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 2am the next morning. Glover would spend the next few hours with Willie Junior, vying for his time with a dozen other family members in the death-row visiting area. But first, Glover, her daughter and her granddaughter shared a quiet meal around the dining room table at Nazareth House, a Catholic Worker hospitality home for death-row families -- and a fulcrum of North Carolina's abolition movement. Among those gathered with Glover at the big round table were Scott Langley and Sheila Stumph, who founded the Raleigh Catholic Worker in a tiny rental house 18 months earlier, and Scott Bass and Roberta Mothershead, who joined with Langley and Stumph and bought this much larger house earlier this year in order to expand the Catholic Worker ministry.   More...

They tried to enter Central Prison in December, intent on halting the nation's 1,000th execution. They were stopped and arrested, but the charges were dropped. They did it again in January before the state executed Perrie Dyon Simpson. And when Patrick Moody was killed by lethal injection in March, the group had tried yet again to stop an execution. The death penalty opponents thought they would have their day in court Thursday for acts of civil disobedience. Ten protesters made an appearance before a judge in Wake District Court. But their trial was delayed until June.   More...

On Thursday, there was a peaceful, orderly death penalty protest in front of the State Capitol to protest Brown's scheduled execution. That rally was perfectly legal. However, during the past three executions at Central Prison, some protestors left the barricaded sidewalk and blocked the prison entrance. State Capitol Police arrested dozens of them...They say it is worth the risk because they passionately believe executions are wrong. Their goal is to prevent people taking part in the execution from entering the prison. Protestors say they plan to block the entrance on the eve of Brown's execution. "It will happen tonight, and whether or not I'm a part of it I will decide as the day unfolds," said arrested protestor Sheila Stumph. "I still have hope that the courts will do the right thing and that Gov. (Mike) Easley will do the right thing." "I would rather be in jail than be part and parcel to a murder," said Martin Caver, whose charges were dropped.   More...

For the second time this year and the third time in just over three months, 15 local death penalty opponents were arrested for attempting to physically and peacefully halt an execution Central Prison, where Patrick Moody was poisoned to death by prison staff in the morning of St. Patrick's Day, March 17. At 10:36 p.m., the group solemnly processed from the sidewalk candlelight vigil, crossed the street, and attempted to walk down the driveway towards the death house where Moody’s family members were saying their final goodbyes.   More...

Federal authorities are investigating a Raleigh woman for traveling to Cuba last year as one of 24 protesters who tried to visit detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. Sheila Stumph, a Raleigh peace activist, and her husband, Scott Langley, flew to Cuba in December and marched 65 miles to the naval base in an attempt to visit the detainees. The protesters, a group called Witness Against Torture, were stopped at the gate of the militarized zone, beyond the base where they fasted and camped for four days before returning to the United States.   More...

After Gov. Mike Easley rejected Perrie Dyon Simpson's clemency request Thursday evening, the condemned killer was executed at 2 a.m. today. Late Thursday, 15 protesters who tried to stop the execution were arrested in the crosswalk next to the Central Prison driveway. Most were among the group that made a similar attempt Dec. 1, the eve of the state's last execution. Last time, protesters got about 15 feet down the prison driveway. This time, they were stopped by prison guards, metal barricades and State Capitol Police.   More...

Activists on Thursday turned out in opposition to the looming execution of Perrie Dyon Simpson. About 50 anti-death-penalty activists assembled in the cool Thursday night air outside the walls of Central Prison in Raleigh, many of them marching from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, where a multi-faith prayer meeting and candlelight vigil was held in opposition to capital punishment. Scott Langley, who helped coordinate the event, said Simpson's execution represented "a grave injustice." "The way people are raised has a huge impact on what kind of people they become," said Langley, making reference to Simpson's history of being shuffled around in North Carolina's foster care system. "The state of North Carolina failed Perrie Simpson by not meeting his needs."   More...

Wake County prosecutors have dismissed charges against 17 protesters who trespassed at Central Prison in Raleigh on the eve of the nation's 1,000th execution since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. Howard Cummings, a prosecutor, said officials decided to dismiss the charges because prosecuting 17 people who feel morally obligated to protest executions was a poor use of limited court resources.   More...

A District Court judge convicted 14 defendants of trespassing Thursday in connection with a November anti-torture protest at Aero Contractors Ltd. in Smithfield. The protesters pleaded not guilty, but admitted during their joint trial that they had intentionally trespassed onto the premises of Aero Contractors at the Johnston County Airport on the morning of Nov. 18. They argued, however, that their crime was justified as an act of civil disobedience.   More...

>   >   >   2005 Stories

It's been a busy month for activist couple Scott Langley and Sheila Stumph, co-founders of the Raleigh Catholic Worker House. Both have been arrested recently for acts of civil disobedience; Scott at an anti-torture action at the Johnston County Airport on Nov. 18, and both of them on Dec. 1 outside Central Prison to protest the execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd, who was the 1,000th person executed in the United States since 1977. With little time to spare and court dates pending, Stumph and Langley took off for Cuba last week to join 23 other Catholic Workers and Christian activists from around the country for a 70-mile-plus protest march to a point near the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, where, on Tuesday, they were holding a vigil and fast to protest the reported torture of detainees at a prison where the United States had been holding suspected terrorists, some for more than four years without due process.  More...

Over the course of five days, Fort Worth native Scott Langley walked more than 60 miles for a cause he believes in. Langley is part of the Witness Against Torture march, in which 25 Christian activists left Santiago, Cuba, on Dec. 6 and walked to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to protest the government's treatment of terror suspects. "I march because I want to give myself, and my government, time to think about what life is like as a detainee at Guantanamo," Langley wrote in an e-mail this week from Guantanamo. "I want to offer a sign of hope ... to confront the horror perpetuated by our government on foreign soil."   More...

American activists reached the halfway point in a long trek toward the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay to protest treatment of terror suspects. The 25 marchers, who set out Wednesday, hope to arrive at - or at least near to - the naval base by Saturday, which is International Human Rights Day. The march was organized by the Catholic Worker movement, an anti-war and social justice alliance. ``We don't know how far we can get, so every step forward is an amazing thing,'' said Shelia Stumph, a 28-year-old marcher from Raleigh, N.C.

Santiago, Cuba - "Witness Against Torture" Implores U.S. Military to Allow Access So They Can Perform Work of Mercy: Bringing Comfort to Prisoners. Twenty-five Christians in the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker arrived in Cuba last evening and plan to set out from Santiago today on a solemn sixty-five mile march to the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They seek to "defend human dignity" by visiting with the hundreds of detainees who have been held for more than three years.   More...

Scott Langley and Sheila Stumph were among those arrested last week outside Raleigh's Central Prison in protest over the 1,000th execution since capital punishment resumed in the United States in 1977. But the Raleigh couple needed to get out of jail in time to greet their house guests the next day. Three parents of death row inmates would be coming for lunch and to stay overnight after visiting their sons.   More...

Anti-death-penalty activists from across the country and media from around the world are expected to converge on Raleigh today to mark a grim milestone -- the 1,000th execution in the United States since capital punishment was restored nearly 30 years ago. Among those planning to gather in Raleigh today is Scott Langley, Amnesty International's N.C. death-penalty abolition coordinator. "The victims of violent crime deserve respect and compassion and justice," he said, "and the death penalty offers none of those things."   More...

On Thursday, death penalty protesters from around the country flocked to Raleigh to try to stop N.C. officials from executing the 57-year-old Rockingham County man. "(Execution) is a shameful thing when the world and this country are moving away from the death penalty," said Sheila Stumph, who held up a picture of Boyd during a noon Thursday protest in front of Easley's State Capitol office.   More...

Kenneth Boyd is set to become the 1,000th person executed in U.S. since 1976. Death penalty opponents, Scott Langley and his wife Sheila are getting ready to host people attending the execution vigil. Sheila Stumph comments, "Are we a civilized society based on redemption, or are we a killing society, and I think it's clear that it's leaning toward the latter when we reach a thousand executions." In reference to the protests expected, Langley adds, "There will be people flying in from all over the country."   More...

Fourteen people were arrested Friday in a protest at Johnston County Airport, where planes used to shuttle terrorism suspects were believed to be based. Patrick O'Neill was among the protesters who walked quietly down Aero's long, pine-lined driveway, slipped past a barbed-wire fence and draped the company's sign with a cloth that read, "CIA TORTURE TAXI."   More...

A couple moved to Raleigh to set up a Catholic Worker House where the families of death row inmates can stay and find support. The couple offer support, meals and a place to stay for families visiting loved ones on death row. They estimate that about 15 to 20 family members of death row inmates have come by to spend the night, visit or to have a meal since the house opened, including Roberta McNeill, who recently went with the Catholic Worker to Washington, DC for a four-day fast and vigil against the death penalty.   More...

>   >   >   2004 Stories

Sheila Stumph and Scott Langley live at 712 Dorothea Drive. They moved to Boylan Heights on September 14, 2004. They are renting the less than 1200 square foot home and calling a Catholic Worker community dedicated to providing hospitality to people from out of town visiting prisoners on death row.  More...

WASHINGTON, DC - Despite tighter security at the convention center compared to yesterday’s speech by democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, an unidentified heckler without a convention badge managed to get in. As Bush told us “the state should not be a church,” the heckler stood up and called the President a liar, repeatedly shouting, “Shame on you, shame on you!” Bush went quiet and looked towards him with the rest of the crowd. The heckler continued shouting “Shame on you for calling on the name of God to kill.” For what seemed like a long pause nothing was done, two of the 30 Secret Service agents present, edged closer to him but it was left to Unity organizers to deal with the man and to eventually remove him.  More...

WASHINGTON, DC - Appearing at the Unity: Journalists of Color convention before leaving for a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Bush asserted that the administration acted correctly last weekend in raising the terrorism threat level near specific buildings in Washington, New York and New Jersey. Bush has made terrorism and the Iraq war central to his presidency, and yesterday sounded rueful about that emphasis. "This is a dangerous time. I wish it wasn't that way," he said. "Who in the heck wants to be a war president?" At one point, when taling about "compassion," Bush's speech was interrupted by Raleigh Catholic Worker, Scott Langley, who cried out "Shame on you for lying to the media, misleading the public" before being evicted from the room.  More...