The State of Missouri executed Dennis James Skillicorn this morning. Sadly this country has lost one of its strongest Christians.
I did magazine interviews with Dennis a couple of times inside Potosi Correctional Facility, and went to see him as a friend a few months ago. I used to be a firm believer in the death penalty. And I still believe it’s a deterrent for the worst crimes such as mass terrorism and political assassinations.
Yet when you’ve visited death rows in various states as I have and interviewed good Christian men such as Dennis who are waiting to be executed, capital punishment becomes more than something to analyze in an abstract manner.
Dennis walked the walk. He filled his day with spiritual activities that sprang from his salvation experience. He helped thousands of men grow spiritually through Bible correspondence courses. He was involved in an interactive family education program designed to reach at-risk children of incarcerated parents.
His exemplary behavior and kind deeds made no difference in the eyes of the state, which executed him for his involvement in the 1994 killing of a telephone company executive whose car had broken down on an interstate.
After his arrest in California, Dennis asked a jailer for a Bible. He became fixated on John 14:16: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.”
“God sought me out and delivered me from who I used to be,” Dennis told me when I first interviewed him. “That night in the cell I came to the realization that Jesus had died for me.”
Dennis didn’t suggest he shouldn’t pay for his crime because he had become a Christian. He didn’t claim to be innocent. But he thought a life term would be more appropriate, arguing that he didn’t actually pull the trigger in the killing.
The unfairness of it is what is most troubling about a state putting someone to death. The poor and poorly defended are the ones who most often go to the chair. Mass murderer Charles Manson remains in prison. Presidential candidate assassin Sirhan Sirhan has been up for parole 13 times.
Still, Dennis said God granted him peace about his situation. “I know where I’m going,” he told me. “They can’t take away my salvation no matter what my living conditions. That’s valuable to a man who is confined. Every prisoner can redeem the time. We can still serve through intercession.”
His lifestyle provided evidence that God indeed works through those awaiting being put to death. Dennis became a hospice volunteer and provides palliative care for the terminally ill. He became editor of Compassion, a bimonthly newsletter written and edited by death-row inmates across the country. Proceeds from the publication provide money for scholarships to family members of murder victims.
In addition, Dennis led others to the Lord and discipled them, including his wife, Paula, a former award-winning Kansas City Star reporter who fell in love with him after a series of interviews. Paula wed Dennis in 1997. She may never have surrendered her life to Christ as Savior if another condemned man—her future husband—had been executed earlier.
