FAREWELL TO CHARLES THOMPSON

The letter below was written by Arianna, a friend of Chuck.

I am sharing it because I recognize my own pain and my own thoughts in every line. I knew Charles since 1999, and while my heart breaks for his death, my thoughts remain first and foremost with the families of the victims and my deepest condolences to Chuck’s family and friends.

Holding grief for a condemned person and solidarity with the victims’ families is not a contradiction. What is incompatible with justice is the belief that killing another human being can heal violence or restore balance. The death penalty does not bring closure; it extends the cycle of harm and leaves more families destroyed.

This letter is shared in the conviction that abolition is not an act of mercy toward the guilty, but a commitment to humanity itself, and to a future where justice does not rely on executions.

As he always closed his letters, big Texas size hugs, Chuck!

Chiara Silva

President of the Italian Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

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Dear Chuck,

This was certainly not how I imagined spending the night. To be honest, knowing your country, I must admit I expected it a little. But I hoped for the best until the very last moment. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

I am infinitely sad and my sense of helplessness is sky high. I hope, as you hoped, that the victims’ families can find some relief now, but I doubt that another murder can bring peace to anyone’s life.

My love the families of the victims.

You were devastated by what you had done. You weren’t always able to show it. You rarely showed others your true emotions. Not a day went by without you thinking about those victims. Despite the atrocities that are thrown at us, our first thought is always for those who have lost their lives unjustly (and I know something about that!). However, until capital punishment is stopped, the cycle of violence can only widen and we will all continue to pay the consequences. Evil only brings more evil and more pain.

My love to your family.

We will continue to fight for a different world, as I told you in August when we last saw each other… and you smiled. I won’t hide from you that it’s not easy. I feel exhausted, with no weapons other than love and a sense of justice—not revenge. But are love and justice enough in the face of so much evil?

I hope that on this journey you will meet those whose lives you took. And I sincerely hope that you all together will find a way to start building something different in the Hereafter.
Let me and us know.

In the meantime, I will remember you like this, with the photo of when—28 years ago—our lives crossed paths.

May the earth rest lightly on you.
With love, forever.
Ary

Arianna Ballotta

Vice President of the Italian Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty