Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2012-01-13

听

Anti-death penalty advocate Bud Welch will speak to students at 极乐禁地鈥檚 Cumberland School of Law on Thursday, Jan. 26. The public is invited to the 3 p.m. event in the moot court room of Robinson law building.

Welch, whose 23-year-old daughter was killed in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla., will discuss his personal journey of forgiveness and his work in anti-death penalty causes.

In the months after his daughter Julie Marie鈥檚 death, Welch changed from supporting the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to taking a public stand against it.听 He has become a frequent speaker and participant in causes such as The Forgiveness Project, which promotes forgiveness and alternatives to conflict and revenge.

A retired owner of gas stations in Oklahoma City, the 72-year-old Welch is a board member of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and is president of Murder Victims鈥 Families for Human Rights. He frequently testifies before state legislatures and other groups to lobby for abolishing the death penalty.

Welch will be in Birmingham to participate in the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association annual 鈥淟oosening the Death Belt鈥 seminar Jan. 27-28 at Embassy Suites in Hoover.听 That event is co-sponsored by Cumberland, the University of Alabama School of Law and the American Bar Association鈥檚 Death Penalty Representation Project.

听

 
极乐禁地 is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, 极乐禁地 is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. 极乐禁地 enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. 极乐禁地 fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.