Actor and long-time human rights activist Mike Farrell was recently in San Diego at the La Jolla home of Bill and Michelle Lerach nto raise funds and awareness about The Justice That Works Act of 2016, an initiative on the November ballot that if passed, will abolish the death penalty in California and convert the sentences of every death row inmate to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Dozens of community members attended the paid event on May 20, to hear the acclaimed actor best known for his eight years on the hit TV show “M*A*S*H” as Capt. B.J. Honeycutt, and five seasons on “Providence” as Dr. Jim Hansen.
“The death penalty demeans us all,” Farrell said. “We can protect ourselves from people who act out violently by imprisoning them, and if necessary, without the possibility of ever being released. But we shouldn’t stoop to the level of murderer by murdering, and that’s something that I think is very important.”
The initiative’s declarations identify the death penalty as a “failed government program that wastes taxpayer dollars,” and asserts that over 150 innocent people have been sentenced to death in the United States and several innocent people have been executed. 
The measure also restates existing law that requires all incarcerated murderers work, and that up to 60 percent of earned wages be appropriated for victim restitution. 
Farrell said that since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1978, more than 850 people have been sentenced to death, but only 13 people have been executed during that period. He added that the average time from sentencing to execution takes about 25 years. Executions in California are currently on hold because of lethal injection litigation. According to the California Department of Corrections, there have been a total of 103 non-execution deaths since 1978. Of those, 70 were from natural causes, 25 from suicide and eight were described as other. Two California inmates were executed in other states bringing the total number of executions to 15.
Former state assemblywoman and current San Diego mayoral candidate, Lori Saldana, said that she voted to abolish the death penalty for juveniles and make changes to incarceration, because it costs too much. “We’re already paying $50,000 to $60,000 or more annually per year per death row inmate,” she said. “It’s certainly more than we pay for education and it makes more sense financially to have them there for life without the possibility for parole. It’s time for change for so many reasons.”
Among the guests for the event was Uriah Courtney, an exoneree, who in 2005 was wrongfully accused, and convicted of kidnapping, rape and robbery of a minor. After a three-week trial, he was sentenced to life in prison, and served eight years and four months before DNA evidence showed that a person with a prior record of similar crimes, who fit the description of the perpetrator and resided near the crime scene, was the actual donor. “I’m here in support of the abolition of the death penalty, because it’s a proven fact that innocent people have been convicted, and executed for crimes that they didn’t commit,” Courtney said. “One innocent person being executed is too many. It’s immoral and unjust.”
Quentin Mecke, deputy campaign manager for Justice that Works, said that the United States is the only developed Western nation that still executes its own people and that of the 190 countries recognized by the United Nations, 130 believe the death penalty to be inappropriate, and a fundamental violation of the rights of those who have been condemned. Quentin added that the U.S. ranks fifth in executions behind China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Lerach stated that there have been literally hundreds of people who were proven to have been innocent, who have spent years in jail as a result of a system that is supposed to be dedicated to fairness and justice. He said that a judge who is a highly educated individual and a graduate of law school presided over every single one of those trials where an innocent person was convicted. He called it a disgrace and said that the way to end that disgrace is to get rid of the death penalty. On May 19, the Californians for Death Penalty Reform and Savings campaign submitted more than 585,000 signatures across the state to qualify a competing initiative for the November ballot aimed to reduce the amount of time convicts spend on death row before being executed and the burden taxpayers spend on housing them. The measure is broadly supported by prosecutors.