Hours before his execution, Bieghler joins Catholic Church

By Mary Ann Wyand

Indiana death row inmate Marvin Bieghler joined the Catholic Church and received the sacraments at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Ind., on Jan. 26, about eight hours before he was executed for the 1981 murders of Tommy and Kimberly Miller at their mobile home near Russiaville, Ind.

Bieghler was executed early on Jan. 27, about 90 minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a stay of execution by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed him to appeal his capital sentence by challenging the legality of lethal injection.

Earlier on Jan. 26, U.S. Supreme Court justices rejected a similar appeal by Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill, who also claimed that lethal injection is unconstitutional, causes pain, and is cruel and unusual punishment.

Also on Jan. 26, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels denied Bieghler’s clemency petition requesting life in prison without parole.

Bieghler admitted that he was a drug dealer, but denied killing the Millers in rural Howard County.

Holy Cross Father Thomas McNally of South Bend, Ind., who has served as a volunteer Catholic chaplain at the state penitentiary for three years, said Bieghler asked to be received into the Catholic Church.

Father McNally said he spent time with the 58-year-old Marine Corps veteran—who fought in the Vietnam War—during the afternoon and early evening on Jan. 26 while the stay of execution was still in effect.

“I was not at the execution,” Father McNally said. “When I left the prison, the stay was still in effect.”

Bieghler was a Christian and had been baptized, Father McNally said. “I received him into the Catholic Church at 4:30 p.m. at his request. He received the sacrament of penance at that time. I heard his confession in a more private mode. Later in the evening, he received the sacrament of the Eucharist and sacrament of the sick—the last rites—in the holding cell while his attorney and two guards were present.”

Father McNally said during the weeks before Bieghler’s execution he had urged the inmate to consider joining the Catholic Church.

“As the time grew closer, he became interested in it and asked to be received into the Church,” the priest said. “He was preparing to go home to God. He was certainly ready to go to God, and seemed to be very calm about whether the execution was going to happen or not. As far as he was concerned, if the stay of execution remained in place, that was fine with him. But if it didn’t, if it was overruled—as it was—that was fine with him, too.”

Bieghler’s written statement released by the prison said, in part, “I believe in God, country, [the Marine] Corps. Death before dishonor. To my son, grandkids and step-kids, you will always have a piece of my heart.” †