Anti-death penalty crosses on church lawn get refresh ahead of next set Oklahoma execution

Carla Hinton, Oklahoman
·3 min read
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The Rev. Bo Ireland paints crosses Wednesday at the Clark United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. The crosses are memorials for those executed by the state of Oklahoma.
The Rev. Bo Ireland paints crosses Wednesday at the Clark United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. The crosses are memorials for those executed by the state of Oklahoma.

Volunteers worked on Wednesday to refurbish an eye-catching anti-death penalty display on the grounds of an Oklahoma City church.

Twenty-five crosses were erected in August 2022 along the front lawn of the Lazarus Community-Clark Memorial United Methodist Church, 5808 NW 23, with each one representing a person the state of Oklahoma was scheduled to execute over a period of about two years. The display is a partnership between the church and Death Penalty Action and the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Volunteers led by Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action; SueZann Bosler, co-founder of Journey of Hope ... From Violence to Healing; and the church's pastor, the Rev. Bo Ireland, repainted all of the crosses white on Wednesday. Initially, the crosses were to be painted red if a death row inmate was executed by the state of Oklahoma, or green if the inmate's life was spared, as a way to protest what death penalty opponents called the state's "mass scheduling of executions."

More: Oklahoma AG files Supreme Court petition supporting stay of execution for Richard Glossip

Crosses are pictured Wednesday at the Clark United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. The crosses are memorials for those executed by the state of Oklahoma.
Crosses are pictured Wednesday at the Clark United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. The crosses are memorials for those executed by the state of Oklahoma.

Bonowitz, of Ohio, said the cross maintenance project was started because the crosses needed repair and repainting but also because more executions are set to resume in the coming weeks, beginning with Richard E. Glossip, who is set to be put to death by lethal injection on May 18 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the 1997 murder of his boss.

Bonowitz said volunteers will repaint the three crosses that had been doused with red paint red to symbolize the execution of convicted murderers James Coddington, Benjamin Robert Cole and Richard Stephen Fairchild. He said those crosses would be repainted red at a vigil set for May 10 and the three men's names would be added to their respective crosses. Bonowitz said a cross representing Glossip will be painted during a vigil on May 18, with the color —either red or green ― to depend on whether he is executed that day or if he is granted clemency.

"The spotlight is going to get brighter and brighter on Oklahoma," Bonowitz said.

The wooden crosses — each 6 feet tall and about 4 feet wide — are visible along the busy NW 23 thoroughfare, near the intersection with MacArthur Boulevard. Ireland has said the idea for the display came up during an Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish of the Death Penalty brainstorming session.

Crosses, meant as memorials for those executed by the state of Oklahoma, are pictured Wednesday at the Clark United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.
Crosses, meant as memorials for those executed by the state of Oklahoma, are pictured Wednesday at the Clark United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

Bonowitz said the display has done what members of the anti-death penalty movement hoped and that is to bring awareness to their goal of abolishing the death penalty — for everyone whether they are guilty or innocent. He and other death penalty opponents said each cross serves as a reminder of the humanity connected to each scheduled execution, including the prisoner, his victim and everyone affected in the aftermath of murder.

"It's a powerful installation," Bonowitz said. "People come and pray here. People stop and ask questions and we're able to talk to them about this issue."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Church, volunteers refresh anti-death penalty cross display in OKC