home > newsroom The ACLU of Utah and the First Unitarian Church to Host a Candlelight Vigil in Protest of the Execution of Joseph Mitchell Parsons FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 6, 1999 SALT LAKE CITY -- On Friday, October 15 at 12:05 a.m., Joseph Mitchell Parsons will be executed at the Utah State Prison. Parsons, who has been on death row for 12 years for the 1987 murder of Richard Ernest, has dropped all of his legal appeals. Parsons will be one of hundreds of people who have been executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. His scheduled execution date is a sad day for the ACLU and other advocates for the abolition of the death penalty. Please join the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and the First Unitarian Church on Thursday, October 14 at 9:00 p.m. for a candlelight vigil to oppose the execution of Joseph Parsons and advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. The program will include musical interludes and meditations by Father Bartholomew Hutcherson of the Newman Center, Reverend Lee Shaw from St. James Episcopal Church, and ACLU of Utah legal director Stephen Clark. The candlelight vigil will take place at the First Unitarian Church at 569 South 1300 East in Salt Lake City. Please call (801) 521-9862 for additional information. --end--

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