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CNN Live Today
Paul Hill Faces Execution for Abortion Clinic Deaths
Aired September 03, 2003 - 10:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Florida, where a court sentenced Paul Hill to death three years ago. Today, the state is due to deliver that punishment, though the activist says it will be his reward for gunning down an abortion provider and his bodyguards. Hill spoke to the media last night.
CNN's Brian Cabell is at Florida State Prison, where he is about -- where he will witness Hill's execution later today -- Brian?
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. At this hour, Paul Hill is meeting in the prison behind me with his wife and his son for the last time, also with his parents and his two sisters. He has two younger daughters, both in their young teens. They, for some reason, will not be making this last visit.
After that visit, he will have a last meal of steak and a baked potato and broccoli with Hollandaise sauce. And then at 6:00 tonight, he will be executed.
We expect demonstrators to show up a little later this afternoon. Most of them, we expect to be supporters of Paul Hill. And there are some who believe that Paul Hill as the first man to be executed for anti-abortion violence will become a martyr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEAL HORSLEY, PUBLISHER, ABORTION ABSOLUTIONIST: I think that if he's killed, then -- and in fact he was obeying a command from the Lord Jesus Christ, he most definitely is a martyr.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Ironically, the groups that most opposed him on the abortion issue oppose his execution because they don't want him to become a martyr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICTORIA SAPORTA, NATL. ABORTION FEDERATION: He hopes to be a martyr. And he and his followers are encouraging others to follow in his footsteps. And we can't, in a democratic society, allow people to use murder as a means of settling political differences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Hill showed absolutely no remorse yesterday during his press conference for what he had done nine years ago. He teared up slightly only once, and that was when he was talking about his three children whom he'll be leaving behind -- Daryn?
KAGAN: Brian, I just have to ask on a personal note, since you will be witnessing this execution, have you ever done anything like that? And how do you prepare yourself, not just as a reporter, but as a human being to watch that take place?
CABELL: That's tough. I never have and I don't know how you prepare yourself. I go in as a reporter above all. I want to make sure I'm observing everything as objectively as possible, but you don't know how you will respond as a person.
KAGAN: All right, well we will be watching the story. Thank you. Brian Cabell.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 3, 2003 - 10:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Florida, where a court sentenced Paul Hill to death three years ago. Today, the state is due to deliver that punishment, though the activist says it will be his reward for gunning down an abortion provider and his bodyguards. Hill spoke to the media last night.
CNN's Brian Cabell is at Florida State Prison, where he is about -- where he will witness Hill's execution later today -- Brian?
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. At this hour, Paul Hill is meeting in the prison behind me with his wife and his son for the last time, also with his parents and his two sisters. He has two younger daughters, both in their young teens. They, for some reason, will not be making this last visit.
After that visit, he will have a last meal of steak and a baked potato and broccoli with Hollandaise sauce. And then at 6:00 tonight, he will be executed.
We expect demonstrators to show up a little later this afternoon. Most of them, we expect to be supporters of Paul Hill. And there are some who believe that Paul Hill as the first man to be executed for anti-abortion violence will become a martyr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEAL HORSLEY, PUBLISHER, ABORTION ABSOLUTIONIST: I think that if he's killed, then -- and in fact he was obeying a command from the Lord Jesus Christ, he most definitely is a martyr.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Ironically, the groups that most opposed him on the abortion issue oppose his execution because they don't want him to become a martyr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICTORIA SAPORTA, NATL. ABORTION FEDERATION: He hopes to be a martyr. And he and his followers are encouraging others to follow in his footsteps. And we can't, in a democratic society, allow people to use murder as a means of settling political differences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Hill showed absolutely no remorse yesterday during his press conference for what he had done nine years ago. He teared up slightly only once, and that was when he was talking about his three children whom he'll be leaving behind -- Daryn?
KAGAN: Brian, I just have to ask on a personal note, since you will be witnessing this execution, have you ever done anything like that? And how do you prepare yourself, not just as a reporter, but as a human being to watch that take place?
CABELL: That's tough. I never have and I don't know how you prepare yourself. I go in as a reporter above all. I want to make sure I'm observing everything as objectively as possible, but you don't know how you will respond as a person.
KAGAN: All right, well we will be watching the story. Thank you. Brian Cabell.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
