Still, Welch told a crowd of about 40 people gathered at an Amnesty International forum on capital punishment at the Old South Church that he staunchly opposes the death penalty, a topic that is front and center in Boston as jurors deliberate whether to hand down the ultimate penalty to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his brother, Tamerlan, set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line in 2013. That attack killed three people and injured more than 260.

The daughter who had recently graduated from college and meant so much to Welch was taken from him by a man bent on revenge against the US government, and who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19.

Two to three seconds. If the Oklahoma City bombing had occurred just seconds later, Julie Marie Welch may not have been one of the 168 people to have died that day in 1995, her father, Bud Welch, said Monday night.

Welch was one of four panel members assembled to discuss abolishing the death penalty in the United States. The panel also featured Renny Cushing, Julia Rodriguez, and author Bob Curley, all of whom lost family members to violence.


“The death penalty is the ultimate human rights violation,” said Cynthia Gabriel, a senior organizer for Amnesty International, ahead of the panel discussion.

The event, entitled “Beyond the Death Penalty,” was also sponsored by Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Before discussing capital punishment, the panel focused on how each member had dealt with personal loss.

“We are here tonight to talk about murder,” said Cushing, a five-term member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Cushing’s father and brother-in-law were murdered in separate crimes, prompting him to become an advocate for victims.


“When one has a family member murdered, there is nothing that prepares you for that,” Cushing said.

Rodriguez, who lost her brother Greg in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, said she developed post-traumatic stress disorder afterward.

Greg’s death, however, strengthened her opinion that the death penalty should not be pursued. “We really shouldn’t be in the business of consciously killing other people,” Rodriguez said.

Welch spoke about how close his daughter was to surviving the Oklahoma City explosions — investigators said she was just a few steps away from returning to her work area, where everyone survived — and how her passing had “taunted” him. In the months following her death, Welch said he “self-medicated with alcohol.”

He went on to oppose the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, and became the founding president of the Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights.

“I knew I needed to change my life and speak for forgiveness and tolerance,” Welch said.

All four panelists agreed that capital punishment failed at providing answers to the families who lost loved ones.

“It’s seen as a closure, but there’s no closure. It’s not going to make your grieving better,” Rodriguez said.

Welch recalled how McVeigh’s execution only made him feel worse about his daughter’s death. “That was supposed to be the cure for me. But I was revictimized all over again,” Welch said. “I struggled for many months after that.”


After the panel spoke, the event was opened up to the public for questions and remarks.

Joe Kebartas, 66, a Vietnam veteran, said he had been protesting every day at the federal courthouse against Tsarnaev being given the death penalty.

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Juan Cajigas can be reached at Juan.cajigasjimenez@globe.com.