Julie Delegal from Folio Weekly recently covered the Farah family’s anguish over the state’s attorney’s decision to seek the death penalty in their family member’s murder. Delegal described the crime that resulted in Shelby Farah’s death,
Caleb Farah is 18 years old. He was 16 when his sister, Shelby, was robbed at gunpoint and murdered at the Metro PCS store she managed on North Main Street. The heinous act was captured by video surveillance, and there is no real dispute as to the killer’s identity, 23-year-old James Rhodes.
The alleged offender is facing the death penalty, despite the family’s pleas to the local state’s attorney,
“I don’t want the death penalty,” Darlene Farah says, adding that she’s urged the state attorney’s office to accept Rhodes’ plea ever since his attorneys made the offer, a year-and-a-half ago.
Her requests have been ignored, and unfortunately, her family has experienced the additional trauma that the process inflicts upon murder victims’ friends and families. Justice for Jacksonville is working towards addressing their local death penalty system’s problems. Delegal wrote,
Justice 4 Jacksonville gets support on this point from a surprising source. Marc Hyden, a former field representative for the National Rifle Association, now coordinates Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Hyden opposes capital punishment on conservative principles: pro-life values, fiscal responsibility and limited government.
“I think murder victims’ friends and family members deserve better,” Hyden told me. “They deserve swift and sure justice.”
However, the death penalty negatively affects many Americans as Delegal notes,
Musante says that the difference between enforcing life in prison and enforcing the death penalty in Florida amounts to $51 million each year.
But Hyden, of CCADP, says that figure, which emanates from a well-known Palm Beach Post study, is now 15 years old. It’s a “very conservative estimate,” Hyden tells me, noting that the cost continues to increase over time.