Victim's family looks for closure

"We just want closure," said Ernie Montano, Patty's brother. "When he dies, maybe my sister's soul will be able to rest."

Montano was joined by a band of close friends, all of whom chose to stay out of the execution viewing room and join the crowd gathered outside the jail. But the victims' families were not well-received by those protesting.

"These people are hypocrites," said family friend Alvin Davenport, referring to the group of 100 or so people protesting the death penalty and Beardslee's execution. "They say they're non-violent but they won't even let us walk past them [with our pictures of Patty]," he said.

Davenport and other friends of Patty's family tried to show their pictures of the victim, who was 23 when Beardslee killed her with two shots from a rifle, to the protesting crowd. Davenport said people stepped in front of him at every turn, however, and blocked his pictures of Patty with their signs.

Eventually, the small group of grieving family members retired to an inconspicuous position at the back of the crowd, watching protesters march by with signs and candles.

"I'm just here to represent my cousin," said Yayo Saavedra, Patty's cousin.

"People keep trying to provoke us and argue with us. They just don't understand," he said.

On a small stage at the front of the crowd, a steady stream of speakers came through to speak out against capital punishment. Among them was state Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who professed a "strong resolve" against the death penalty.

"Is there a deterrent in capital punishment? No," said Leno. "It is documented that states without the death penalty have fewer murders."

"It costs $1.2 million more to execute a prisoner than it does to give them life without parole," said Leno.

"If these families need closure, I wish them peace," he said. "But only compassion and understanding will be an antidote to hate and violence."

Leno pointed out that 35 percent of death row inmates are black, whereas only they account for only 13 percent of the total U.S. population, calling capital punishment a "lethal lottery."

Leno referenced Matthew Shepherd's father Dennis, who refused to ask for the death penalty for the boys who killed his son in a 1998 hate crime. Leno shared words Dennis had spoken to Matthew's killer, saying, "'I must show mercy to someone who refused to show mercy to my son. ... It's time for the healing process to begin.'"