Melissa Ross
Death penalty opponents in Jacksonville are rallying Thursday night at an event honoring the late Shelby Farah.
Titled “Not In My Name,” the evening is billed as “bringing awareness about the death penalty and the trauma inflicted on victims and family members within the criminal justice system.”
Farah was just 20 when she was murdered during a robbery at the phone store where she worked. Her mother, Darlene Farah, has repeatedly and vocally spoken out against Shelby’s killer, 24-year-old James Xavier Rhodes, being sentenced to death. Farah wants Rhodes to receive a life sentence so that her family does not have to endure years of appeals.
State Attorney Angela Corey‘s office maintains the brutality of the crime justifies the death penalty for Rhodes.
The Thursday event, held at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, is also slated to feature Death Row exonerees.
That church is affiliated with Pastor Reginald Gundy, who has worked on behalf of Corey challenger Wes White.
