Dennis Orbe VA RIP

[FriscoLady]

Dennis Orbe was murdered by the Commonwealth of Virginia last evening for a murder he commited in a York County convenience store in 1998.

Such irony, punishing murder with murder, what an example the Commonwealth sets.

I pray that Mr. Orbe finds peace and forgiveness with God.

Patti

[Kyla]

May Dennis Orbe Rest in peace, and find peace from this cruel world that we live in.

To his family and friends, my heart and thoughts go to you all.

This has to end

[barajade]

This is my first post on PTO. Even though I have been reading posts for the last 6 months I have not registered until today. I have never before registered on or participated in any internet forum and you may not understand why I am posting this or think that this post is a bit of a waste of time, but I feel like I need to get this off my chest.

I have been interested in issues surrounding the death penalty ever since I wrote a paper on the topic as an undergraduate student at university. Then, about 6 months ago, something triggered me to revisit the subject and I started searching the net for information about the death penalty. That is how I came across PTO as well as many prison pen pal sites. After many hours spent looking at numerous individual death penalty cases as well as reading about PTO members’ experiences as pen pals of inmates I started looking into the possibility of becoming a pen pal to a death row inmate myself. Once again, I searched the many pen pal sites until one day I came across an ad by Dennis Orbe. There was nothing special about his ad, the thing that made me decide to want to write to him was that we had been born in the same area. Anyway, I made a mental note of his name and started researching his case. Whilst doing this I was shocked to find that inmates on Virginia’s death row are often executed within only a few years of having been convicted. I remember thinking that if many of Virginia’s already executed death row inmates had spent roughly 6 or 7 years on death row, then there is a possibility of Dennis being executed in the near future, given that he was convicted in 1998 of the crime he had committed. Well, at the time this was mere theory to me, nothing but a statistical average.

As with so many things in life, I kept putting off writing to him, convinced that there was still plenty of time left in the future to strike up a pen pal friendship. However, I did the occasional search on his name on the net, I am not sure why, maybe to reassure myself that I could still write that first letter, after all he was still alive. It was during one of these internet searches a couple of weeks ago that I discovered that an execution date had been set for Dennis.

I was terribly shocked but also very disappointed in myself for not having written to Dennis after I had first read his pen pal request last September. I was wondering if I could have helped him cope during the difficult times leading up to the execution and felt that I have in some way failed him. And with his execution only a couple of weeks away I felt it was inappropriate to write now.

Yesterday, the day of his execution, I constantly looked at the clock, counting the hours he had still left to live. Also, I checked the internet again and again, hoping that Dennis had received a stay or been granted clemency. However, there was no news. Before I went to bed I prayed to god to give Dennis strength. It felt unreal to think that while I was asleep, on the other side of the world a young man of 39 years had to go through what was probably the most difficult couple of hours in his life and prepare to be forcefully put to death.

First thing this morning, still hoping that there might have been a last minute stay of execution, I checked the news on the internet. My heart dropped when I read that Dennis had in fact been executed. However, I was glad to read that there were people with him in the last hours of his life. And he seems to have been at relative peace. While he declined to make a final statement, his spiritual advisor, Sister Constancia Parcasio, is reported to have brought a cross to his lips while he was strapped to the gurney, and Dennis said his last prayer. At the end, Sister Constancia is reported to have said, he was very peaceful and had no anger. Outside the prison, his pen pal of three years, Ann, is reported to have been attending a vigil.

Why am I writing all this? I am not really sure. I guess I feel guilty because I did not reach out to Dennis when I could and should have done so. But most importantly, I would like to thank the "strangers" (non-family) who made the effort to be there for him when he needed their support, particularly Sister Constancia Parcasio and his pen pal Ann. I think you are fantastic people. And this goes for everyone on PTO who supports the men and women on death row, in fact all inmates. You are all doing a great job!

Dennis, may you rest in peace.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Orbe family and their friends, as well as to the family of Richard Burnett, the victim. I hope everyone can find peace.

Barbara

[Acorsgirl]

Yes may he finally find peace and forgiveness.
Drugs can make you do awful things,
My husband used to be friends with him and the man he murdered.
They all worked togeather.
And my husband said he was such a different person before he started using.
But I dont think we should play God, he will be judged by the only one who should.
Peace, Love, and Memories......

[Kyla]

barajade
Your post was very moving, thankyou for sharing your story. It makes us realize how important the little things are, even a letter.

[LoUiE'sLaDy]

Thanx for sharing, RIP

[tommysmommy]

i live in york county and i remember the clerk who was killed....although i do not agree with the death penalty.

[Keltria]

Barajade, perhaps you could take the time to find another death row inmate that could use a friend and support, and write to them. It is never too late to make a differenceto another person who may need support.

[Phil in Paris]

Barbara,

thank you for sharing such a moving story. As Keltria just stated, you can still make a difference in someone's life. It's never too late.

May you rest in peace Mr Orbe.

Phil

[scburr88]

Barajade,
Thank you for shareing and welcome. I can relate very well to how you are feeling. For much of my life I had ambivalent alternating confused thoughts about how I felt about Capital Punishmnent.

I felt much the same guilt that you express with not being more involved when just days before the execution of Richard Charles Johnson on May 3, 2002 here in South Carolina, I tried frantically to do something, anything, and of course was devestated when I couldn't do anything, no one could and many were trying.

What I realized was that although it was too late in that case it was not too late for me to do what I could for future reform.

It is never too late to try to correct what we think is wrong and work for equitable justice.

I pray that Mr. Orbe is in peace. His friends and family are in my prayers for their loss.

I pray also for Richard Burnett's family for their loss and hope that they have found at least some of the closure and relief they hoped that this execution would provide them.