Background:
From an AFSC Press Releace, December 21, 1998
Reeves, a 42-year-old Native American (Omaha Tribe), was convicted of stabbing to death two women, Janet Mesner and Victoria Lamm, in a Quaker meetinghouse in 1980...
Ken and Mildred Mesner, parents of murder victim Janet Mesner, have publicly spoken out against the pending execution of Randy Reeves. They have provided testimony before the Nebraska Legislature's Judiciary Committee calling for a repeal of the state's death penalty laws. In addition, they have granted numerous interviews with print and broadcast media to call for clemency for their daughter's murderer.
"From the very beginning, we have felt that taking Randy's life for revenge is not an option. To take Randy's life will only cause more pain and suffering, and not bring Janet back," Ken Mesner said.
The husband and daughter of Victoria Lamm, likewise, have taken a public stand in the effort to halt Reeves's execution. They had not commented on the death sentence against Reeves until recently but have begun granting media interviews, including an appearance on a December 10 television news broadcast in Lincoln. The Lamms traveled from their home in Oregon to meet with two members of the Board of Pardons on December 11 to ask that Reeves's sentence be commuted.
"I think there has been enough killing in this particular case," said Gus Lamm, Victoria Lamm's husband. "Evil is time-limited, but good lasts so much longer."
Victoria's daughter, Audrey Lamm, said: "Losing another person doesn't bring her (Victoria) back, it doesn't do any honor to her memory."
The case deeply affected members of the small Quaker meeting in Central City, Nebraska, where the murders took place, as well as the meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska, and where both the Reeves and Mesner families are members. Quakers, who are known for pacifist beliefs and acknowledgment of the value of each individual, were forced to confront a violent act within their community. At a worship service the day following the murders, members of the Central City Meeting placed two flowers in the sanctuary - one for the victims and one for the accused. Several members there continue to work against the death penalty.
See full article
More:
From the Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation webpage
Gus Lamm and his 21-year-old daughter Audrey were denied the right to address the Nebraska Board of Pardons and Paroles and state their opposition to the execution Randy Reeves, who had killed Victoria Lamm, Gus’s wife and Audrey’s mother, 19 years earlier. Yet Victoria’s sister, who supports the death penalty, was allowed to have her views entered into the record of the hearing.
In Nebraska, as in 29 other states, the Constitution had been amended to give rights to victims, including the right to appear before a proceeding involving the defendant, such as a petition for sentence commutation. When the Nebraska Board of Pardons and Paroles denied the Lamms that right, they filed suit, charging that they had been silenced simply because of their views on the death penalty.
Incredibly, when the court ruled against the Lamms, the judge found that "the Lamms are not victims, as that term is commonly understood." Not victims? How could that be? It seems the judge meant that since the Lamms wanted to speak at the clemency hearing in support of Randy Reeves, the defendant, they did not count as victims "as that term is commonly understood." The clear implication was that victims are supposed to oppose the defendant and support the death penalty once that sentence has been handed down.
The Lamms refused to accept the implication that they were not victims, or were somehow bad victims, because they opposed the state’s decision to execute Reeves. They appealed the decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court in November 2000, and MVFR joined with them by filing an amicus curiae brief in support of their claim.
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