Bethany Webb to speak on the Death Penalty on May 11

SENIOR PEACE CLUB

by Nancy Goldstein

LW contributor

The Senior Peace Club’s next meeting will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, May 11, at 2 p.m. This month’s speaker will be Bethany Webb of California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

In 2011, Webb’s sister Laura was killed and her mother, Hattie, was wounded in the Salon Meritage massacre in Seal Beach. Webb worked with the other victims’ family members to oppose the death penalty in the resulting trial, based on her opposition to the practice and on the fact that it would cause the families to incur a painful and unending litigation process. Webb even spoke to the then-Orange County District Attorney to let him know her opposition to the death penalty, although the District Attorney rebuffed her while still continuing to tout his “victims’ rights” bona fides. In 2017, the defendant was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole because the judge presiding over the case found that the corruption in the Orange County District Attorney’s office and Orange County Sheriff ’s Department had been so pervasive that he could not guarantee a constitutional sentencing hearing.

In 2016, Webb was one of the most forceful campaigners for Prop. 62, a statewide ballot initiative that would have abolished the death penalty in California. It came very close to passing. She continues to be active in the fight to end the death penalty and to challenge corrupt prosecutors at the local level.

There will be a question-and-answers session after the presentation.

To participate in the meeting via Zoom, go to https://us02web. zoom.us/j/86896188281?pwd=M0dCeklMR0dGdXBZZnJKNEg0 RGo3UT09, or call 669-900-6833. The meeting ID is 868 9618 8281, and the password is 667699.

For more information, call Don Koepke at (562) 330-3397.