EXECUTION DRAWS DEATH-PENALTY OPPONENTS; SILENT VIGIL HELD OUTSIDE PRISON FOR ROLL'S EXECUTION

POTOSI, Mo. -- People who knew Gary Lee Roll personally and people who didn't joined together Tuesday night in a dimly-lit gravel parking lot in the minutes after his death to whisper prayers and reflect on the sacredness of life.

While the majority of people came to Potosi, Mo., because they opposed the death penalty, two men, including one from Oak Ridge, Mo., showed support of state executions. The two groups were kept separate in the parking lot.

In all, 30 people gathered between 11 p.m. Tuesday and midnight for prayers and a candlelight vigil. Just before midnight they recited Psalm 23. Some then kneeled in the gravel to pray; others simply stood still as the minutes, then the seconds passed before Roll's death.

Three Washington County sheriff's deputies stood watch at an opposite corner of the lot, which was illuminated by spotlights from a firetruck parked on a prison service road several hundred yards away. The lot sits adjacent to the prison complex.

Roll, 48, of Cape Girardeau died by injection at 12:07 a.m. Wednesday at the Potosi Correctional Center for murdering Sherry Scheper and her sons Randy and Curtis Scheper in Cape Girardeau in 1992.

Roll's execution was the first since 1963 for a killing in Southeast Missouri. As such his case impacted the community, local death-penalty opponents said. There are still people in the area who knew both the victims' family and Roll's family, said the Rev. J. Friedel, a Catholic priest.

The Scheper family "will never be the same," he said. "They've been turned upside down, and I have compassion for them, but so have the lives of his (Roll's) family."

Friedel said he called Roll's mother Tuesday afternoon but didn't get an answer. He said he left a message saying that he and students from Catholic Campus Ministries at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau were praying for her family and Roll.

"It's just a way to bring a little love and compassion into a world that sometimes seems so short of it," Friedel said.

Just because a person commits a crime or causes harm doesn't mean that people stop caring about them, he said. Nor does it mean that that person's life is any less valuable than another person's, he said.

Taking a life to show that taking life is wrong "doesn't make any sense," Friedel said. "No matter what we do, that equation doesn't add up."

The university students along with Friedel and Sister Cynthia Hruby came to show their support for abolishing the death penalty. Jim Wagner of Sikeston, Mo., carpooled with the university group. Other death-penalty opponents were from the St. Louis and Columbia, Mo., areas.

The Missouri Catholic Conference submitted a clemency request Tuesday on behalf of religious and civic groups in the state. Gov. Mel Carnahan denied the request.

Roll's execution was the 44th in Missouri since the death penalty was reinstated in 1989. It was the third execution this year. George B. Harris is scheduled for execution Sept. 13. Nine people were executed in Missouri during 1999.

The Oak Ridge man, Joe Scheffer, said the state should continue executions. Scheffer, himself a Catholic, said the attention seems to be going to the groups against capital punishment. "I just wanted to let my voice be heard," he said.

Scheffer didn't know Roll and had only read news accounts about his crimes, appeals and pending execution. "He's just another number," he said.

Just the sight of the prison with its miles of fencing, barbed wire and brightly lit perimeter is enough deterrent for Scheffer, he said. "I have an uneasy feeling, and that's why I'll stay a good guy."

Scheffer displayed a sign on his Ford pickup truck listing biblical references to capital punishment. He cited Matthew 5:17-20, 1 John 3:10-16; Genesis 9:5-6, Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19:9-13.

Even though he was outnumbered by people hoping to stop executions, Scheffer didn't seem to mind. There are still many people in Missouri who support execution, he said.

Brett Wise isn't one of them. Wise, a student at Carbondale, Ill., said Roll's case changed his mind about the death penalty.

Wise was living in Cape Girardeau and was friends with both Roll and his son at the time the murders were committed. He said he sat in Roll's home days after the murders talking about the news and what had happened without ever knowing Roll had committed the crimes.

Wise, with his hands stuffed into his pant pockets, paced in the parking lot as the midnight hour drew near. He admitted being ashamed of not speaking to Roll's son or his mother since the murders. "It's just awkward. I never knew what to say," he said.

The Gary Roll that Wise knew wasn't a violent man and had never spent any time in jail. Although he knows that Roll admitted committing the murders, Wise said he believes that drugs influenced him.

Roll was in constant pain from a botched jaw surgery to remove impacted teeth that exposed a nerve. He was prescribed medication over the years, but it did little to eliminate the pain.

Eventually Roll turned to illegal drugs. The combination of those drugs and his pain drove Roll to kill, Wise said. "The Mr. Roll I knew was not a violent man."

Roll served in the Army, stationed in Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1974.

Executing him for his crimes is no way to repay Roll for his service to the United States, Wise said. "This situation is not the correct solution," he said.

Friedel agreed that executions aren't the answer. "It's not going to go away anytime soon," he said. "But we are slowly making a difference."