Where There's a Will: The Unwanted Execution of Geoffrey West
On Tuesday, Will Berry petitioned Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to spare the life of Geoffrey West, the man convicted of killing his mother when he was 11. The state plans to proceed.
Tuesday in Montgomery, Will Berry said he’d come to the state’s capital “to do the right thing.” It’s what he said his mother, Margaret Parrish Berry, would’ve wanted.
Days earlier, he’d told Tread News that he wanted to meet face-to-face with Geoffrey West, the man convicted of taking his mother’s life in a 1997 gas station robbery. He had a message for him.
“I love you,” he wanted to tell West. “God loves you. My mother would love you, because we forgive you.”
The State of Alabama denied that request, informing Berry he wouldn’t be allowed to visit West, though he’d be allowed to view the man’s execution by nitrogen suffocation if he wished.
On Tuesday, Berry made the drive to the Alabama State Capitol to visit the office of Gov. Kay Ivey and deliver a petition asking for the state to spare West’s life. He also wanted to request—one last time—that he be allowed to meet with the condemned man ahead of his scheduled execution on Thursday.
As the Montgomery sun beat down on Berry and his wife Courtney, they made their way up the marble stairs of the capitol, past the statue of Jefferson Davis and into the ornate building—the seat of Alabama’s government.
Soon, they arrived at the reception desk of the governor’s office, where a staffer with constituent services was sent to meet them.
“This is on behalf of Geoffrey Todd West,” Berry told the woman, handing over the petition. “We have forgiven this man, and we want to move forward without his death. There’s enough death. We don’t want no more mourning—my family or his family.”
Berry said he wants healing, not revenge in his mother’s name.
“I want a relationship with this man,” he told the governor’s staffer, and it can’t happen if he dies. It can’t. And I think it’s wrong that y’all—the State of Alabama—would let me go see the man die but won’t let me see him—visit him, hug his neck, and tell him I love him and forgive him to his face.”
“I don’t want this man to die.”
His mother wouldn’t have wanted West executed, Berry told the staffer.
“He’s a child of God…” he said. “It shouldn’t be on the state to forgive. It should be on us. It’s a commandment. Vengeance is the Lord’s, not the State of Alabama.”
The governor’s staffer said she would pass the message along to Ivey, who has now presided over 23 executions, including the first-ever nitrogen suffocation in the United States.
West told Tread News last week that he also wants to meet with Berry before Alabama puts him to death.
“I’m sorry,” West wants to tell him. “I’d like to ask for his forgiveness, and I’d like to tell him the truth. I’d like to answer any questions he has.”
Berry said that despite the state’s offer, he doesn’t plan to watch West suffocate to death inside Holman prison on Thursday, should the execution proceed. West’s death will compound the trauma caused by his mother’s murder, not lessen it.
“We should be healing,” Berry said. “I don’t want this man to die.”
You can read more about Will Berry and Geoffrey West at the link below.
'Justice Denied' and the Crimson Tide
Will Berry has a message for Geoffrey West, the man convicted of murdering his mother Margaret when Berry was only 11 years old.
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