"Stones"
Watercolor, collage, and prose by Marylyn Felion

"Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone"
-John 8:7

Introduction

In 1987 I spent time in Nicaragua, during the Contra war, with Witness for Peace. Our job was to go live out in the war zones, document what was happening, and send this information back to the states to counter the official propaganda being fed to the media by the state department.

This was scary.

During our two-week orientation, we were asked to sit with our fears, to see if we could name them, and to write our greatest fear on a piece of paper.

Much to my surprise I realized my GREATEST fear was NOT that I might be captured and killed by the contra, but that I might be forced to stand by helplessly and watch as another human being was killed!

Ten years later my greatest fear was realized as I sat helplessly and watched as Robert Williams was killed, not in a war-torn country, but right here in Nebraska. On December 2, 1997, I accompanied Robert Williams to the death chamber and witnessed his execution.

Twenty years earlier, under the influence of drugs and alcohol and filled with rage and self-loathing, Robert went on a rampage in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, raping and killing two women, killing a third, raping a fourth and leaving her for dead.

For twenty years on death row, Robert mourned and repented this killing spree, arising every morning at 3:00 a.m. to spend time in prayer, study, reflection.

By the time I got to know Robert, he was the most God-filled person I have ever met.

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