RAPID CITY - Death-penalty opponents are holding to slim hope that Gov. Mike Rounds might issue another last-minute stay of execution for Elijah Page next week.

Deb McIntyre, executive director of South Dakota Peace and Justice Center, has thought through all the possible reasons the governor might stay the execution and believes last year's decision might be a positive sign.

"Getting that delay means that maybe it's not meant to happen," she said. "It says that someone, somewhere was recognizing that this was a bad thing to do - to find that loophole if Page wasn't even looking for a loophole."

But state Sen. Bill Napoli said if Rounds issues another stay of execution, the governor would be ending his political career.

"He doesn't have any choice if he wants to maintain any sort of credibility with the people of South Dakota," he said.

McIntyre said the more than 1,000 members of her organization have been writing letters appealing to the governor to stay the execution, but the state's two Catholic bishops have decided not to appeal to Rounds - who is Catholic - for a pardon.

Bishop Blase Cupich of the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City said capital punishment is not as much a faith issue as it is a human-rights issue.

"We would make the same appeal to any head of state, regardless of their religion," he said. "We cannot teach that killing is right with killing."

Bishop Paul Swain of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls said he saw Rounds a few weeks ago on a fishing trip but chose not to discuss the upcoming execution. He said Rounds knows the position of the Catholic Church on the death penalty.

"He's an independent person elected by the state," he said. "He is also Catholic, so I presume he would take into account what the teachings of the church are."

Rounds refused to comment last week on his stance as a Catholic and a proponent of capital punishment, but instead, his press secretary, Mitch Krebs, said his position has not changed.

Last summer, Rounds said there were exceptions in Catholic teaching which allowed for the use of the death penalty.

Cupich said those exceptions are only made when the prisoner is deemed a danger to other prisoners or to the guards. But Pope John Paul II set a standard that developed countries, such as the United States, have modern penal systems that prevent those issues.

"How is it that this one man out of 100 murderers in the state is a threat, but the others aren't?" Cupich said. "If that is the reason for this execution, then I think what we really need is prison reform."

Many opponents say they do not expect a stay of execution from Rounds, but they didn't expect one last summer, either.

McIntyre said the one reason she believes could delay the execution has been the legal challenges other states have faced regarding lethal injection.

"Across the country, we keep hearing about situations where the technicians are supposedly trained in administering IVs," she said. "Then, there are problems that it hasn't worked the way they are often trained that it should."

Napoli was surprised by last summer's delay because Page had given up all appeals, and other states have executed criminals with the two-drug cocktail before.

"Every indicator was that it would have done the job. I just believe that Governor Rounds was being overly cautious," he said. "When a person is a lawmaker, there are always two sides to a story - someone is always standing back wringing their hands saying, 'We're going to get sued over this.'"

Napoli, who is also Catholic, said he strays from faith-based beliefs to support the death penalty.

"I have one solid belief in my mind that I'm never going to walk away from, and that is if a person commits the ultimate crime, then they deserve the ultimate punishment. In a nutshell, that's it for me. There's no other argument," he said.

Recent studies supporting the death penalty have shown what others have disputed for years; that the death penalty may act as a deterrent to some violent crimes, but opponents and supporters alike have skepticism about the new data.

The real reason people kill others, McIntyre said, is out of passion or emotion.

"These people don't think that far ahead," she said.

Napoli agreed, saying in all his years in the Legislature, he doesn't believe lawmakers have ever created a punishment that can deter criminals.

"If I'm standing with a gun and pointing it at a guy I hate, I'm not thinking, 'If I shoot him in the leg, that's 10 years. If I shoot him in the arm, that's 20 years. And if I shoot him in the chest, that's 30 years.' I'm not thinking that way," he said. "I'm thinking, 'I'm going to shoot that guy, and I'm going to kill him.'"

One issue that concerns Cupich is that a state execution involves elected officials, and their actions represent all citizens.

McIntyre agreed, saying an execution makes her out to be a supporter of capital punishment because elected officials are making decisions for taxpayers.

She said that the state should take a step back and look at the trend being set by other states and countries that are abolishing or putting a moratorium on the death penalty.

"We're going toward a system of justice that other states are moving away from," she said.

Napoli disagrees with McIntyre, saying citizens of the United States shouldn't compare themselves to those from foreign countries when it comes to domestic affairs.

"Excuse me. Germany slaughtered how many millions of people in World War II, and they're telling us that we shouldn't have the death penalty?" he said.

Bishop Swain of Sioux Falls said he is worried. The last execution in South Dakota was in 1947; although there is a lot of public discussion about the death penalty now, if the procedure becomes more common, people might be more accepting of capital punishment, he said.

"This is a jarring experience since we haven't had it in 60 years - the concern is that when it actually starts again that we are heading down a slippery slope," he said.

Prayer vigils scheduled

Three local Catholic churches will hold vigils next week in anticipation of the execution of Elijah Page:

* Blessed Sacrament Church in Rapid City will have a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

* Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Rapid City will hold an Evening of Prayer at 8 p.m. Sunday.

* Our Lady of the Black Hills Church in Piedmont will hold a prayer vigil the night before the execution. Parishioners can call 787-5168 for more details.

Contact Justin Wolfgang at 394-8417 or justin.wolfgang@rapidcityjournal.com