With the pace of executions increasing dramatically in America over the last decade, the number of relatives like Bates wanting to watch has risen as well. Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision yesterday allowing the families of people killed by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to watch his execution over closed-circuit television gives a new dimension to the national debate over the death penalty. Many victims' advocates believe that seeing a killer die helps some people deal with their grief. It's part of a ritual of what they need to do. The office also provides support before and after the event, and handles logistics such as getting into the prison and escorting relatives into the death chamber.
Relatives are the last to go in and the first to come out.
It was very much about the victim and not the offender. There was laughter, there were tears, there was storytelling. The mood was more somber at the only execution in Pennsylvania witnessed by relatives. Like Bates, Lomax, sister of Heidnik victim Sandra Lindsey, felt cheated after watching him die. You want to see them suffer.