Nun says death-row inmate is 'at peace' with facing execution

Published: 2004-04-19

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- Federal death-row inmate David Paul Hammer used Lent this year to help prepare for his June 8 execution at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, said a nun who has been meeting with him. Providence Sister Rita Clare Gerardot of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., who has been one of Hammer's two spiritual advisers since March 2000, said he dropped his final appeals during a Feb. 5 hearing in Lewisburg, Pa., and is ready to die after being incarcerated in several prisons for the past 26 years. "He's at peace with his decision," Sister Rita Clare said in a telephone interview with The Criterion, Indianapolis archdiocesan newspaper. "He is physically, emotionally and mentally worn out." She said Hammer, 45, has struggled with complications from diabetes and high blood pressure in recent years. He requires insulin injections three times a day and also needs medication for high blood pressure.

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