November 14, 1999. Origionally printed in nebraska. Clarence Brandley, freed from death row, speaks in Lincoln Clarence Brandley, who spent more than nine years and five months awaiting a death sentence before being exonerated, spoke at the annual dinner of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty. He was asked afterward if personal loss or multiple murders would shake his convictions. But I would stay with that same stand.
Capital punishment serves no purpose.
Two wrongs don't make a right. In his speech, Brandley urged his audience to build on their ranks until thousands more join the cause. And he remarked on the ranks of Big Red football fans who watched Nebraska beat Kansas State just awhile earlier. He criticized those he called hypocrites who attend church yet favor executions, and people swayed by appeals of pro-death penalty politicians. Despite his long struggle for his freedom, Brandley said he isn't bitter.