it seems that even while we were in the midst of conducting a hugely successful first-ever justice day on the hill that attorney general paul summers, was successfully seeking another execution date here in the volunteer state...

the tennessee supreme court, per curiam with justice adolpho birch not joining the other justices, set may 17th as an execution date for sedley alley ... alley was convicted of killing nineteen-year old lance corporal suzanne marie collins while she was jogging near millington naval base in millington, tennessee on july 11, 1985

given that the federal judge who issued a stay in this case in 2004 will not reinstate the stay even though the legal issues surrounding the stay have not been adjudicated and clarified, this date looks pretty serious...

alley's case is not one that tcask can easily utilize as an example of the failures of the death penalty system - mental illness and innocence claims aside, the crime itself was brutal by any measure and the victim was a young, female marine ... arlington national cemetary has a website for suzanne collins and advocates for sedley alley's execution on it ... ms. collins father appears deeply wedded to the idea that alley's execution will deliver some form of justice (it is not clear what he believes he will obtain through this act of violence) ... finally, the murder of suzanne collins is covered in the book journey into darkness, in fact the account of collins' murder is considered the best written part of the book...

it has been 19 years of pain for the collins' and perhaps the most cogent argument is one that collins' parents might consider for the future family members of homicide victims - accept life without parole and begin the healing process ... sedley alley has, guilty or innocent, controlled the lives of jack and trudy collins for far too long ... they could help keep future survivors' of homicide victims from traveling down the same torturous path that they have journeyed by opposing the death penalty...

there are some people who oppose the death penalty (in tennessee) who actually support the push for a thorough study of the state's death penalty system but oppose the moratorium on executions (which aligns them with many deeply conservative republican legislators) ... one need only see this execution date come up to see the most serious rationale for the moratorium ... we will oppose this execution but we will have to tread very carefully and select our messengers extremely well ...