Tim Floyd
Justice, Mercy, Redemption and the Death Penalty
Prof. Tim Floyd's Journey with Convicted Murderer Louis Jones
Sunday Forum, September 25, 2016
On a February night in 1995, Louis Jones committed an act of unspeakable cruelty and brutality: he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a young private in the United States Army, then killed her and left her body under a bridge. Jones was charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death under the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994. In early 1996, shortly after that conviction, Tim Floyd was appointed to represent Mr. Jones in attempting to overturn his death sentence. He spent the following seven years representing Jones, including an appearance before the United States Supreme Court and a petition for executive clemency to the President of the United States. Those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and Jones was put to death in March 2003. To date, Louis Jones is the last person to have been executed by the federal government.
Tim Floyd will tell the story, not only of his legal representation of Louis Jones the convicted killer, but also about his transformative relationship with Louis Jones, the person. Although guilty of a heinous crime, he in many ways personified the “humbling truth” recognized by Bryan Stevenson in his book Just Mercy -- that “each of us is more than the worst thing we have ever done.” Louis Jones served his country honorably and courageously for over 20 years as a United States Army Airborne Ranger; he was a devoted father and grandfather; and he was a man of deep faith who had a positive impact on many of those around him, including while he was on death row. His story raises profound questions to persons of faith regarding the relationship between justice and mercy. If there were ever a crime for which justice demanded the ultimate punishment, this murder would almost certainly be among them. But for reasons that Tim Floyd will explore in his talk, Mr. Jones’s life and his story made a compelling case for mercy -- that he be spared the death penalty.
This forum talk will also serve launch a broader discussion in the parish about Stevenson's Just Mercy, including a consideration of our response as Christians to the death penalty in America, as well as the interplay among concepts of justice, mercy, and redemption -- central themes of the criminal justice system which are also at the heart of our Christian faith. You can read more here about a weekly group that will meet this fall to consider these issues.
About the speaker
Timothy W. Floyd is Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy and Director of Experiential Education at Mercer University School of Law. In addition to supervising clinical and externship programs, he teaches a variety of courses in criminal law and in legal ethics. Floyd has published two books and is the author of numerous articles in the area of legal ethics, law and religion, and criminal law and the death penalty. He is the co-editor of the book Can A Good Christian Be A Good Lawyer? Homilies, Witnesses, and Reflections, and he is currently working on a book entitled Near the Cross: Reflections on Justice, Mercy, and the Death Penalty. He has represented several defendants in death penalty cases, including Louis Jones, Jr., the first person convicted under the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994. He received B.A and M.A. from Emory University and his J.D from the University of Georgia, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgia Law Review. He began his career in legal education in 1982 at the University of Georgia School of Law, as Associate Director and then Director of the Legal Aid Clinic. He was on the faculty of Texas Tech University School of Law from 1989 to 2004, where he was the J. Hadley Edgar Professor of Law and Co-Director of Clinical Programs.