Edward Markley | |
---|---|
Archdiocese | Diocese of Birmingham |
Orders | |
Ordination | June 10, 1966 |
Personal details | |
Born | September 5, 1939 |
Died | January 14, 2019 79) St. Bernard Abbey, Cullman, Alabama, United States | (aged
Nationality | American |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Edward Markley (September 5, 1939 - January 14, 2019) was an American Catholic Benedictine monk and priest. In 1985, Markley was arrested and convicted to five years in jail after he vandalized an abortion clinic with a sledgehammer.
Markley was born on September 5, 1939, and took vows as a monk at St. Bernard Abbey on June 12, 1960. He was later ordained to the Catholic priesthood on June 10, 1966. [1]
On April 29, 1978, Markley, along with three students, was arrested at the Birmingham Women's Medical Clinic, after organizing a sit-in to protest abortion. On May 19, the four were convicted of trespassing, with Birmingham city Judge Tennant Smallwood fining Markley $50. [2]
On May 12, 1984, Markley, along with one other man, used a sledgehammer to destroy equipment at the abortion clinic, destroying an estimated $8,000 in equipment. [3] That year, Markley also splashed the Women's Community Health Center in Huntsville with red paint. He was ordered to pay $2,400, but he refused and was arrested. He then spent 30 days in prison until an anonymous donor paid. [1] [4] On June 16, 1986, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, ineligible for parole, after violating probation terms to stay 500 feet away from abortion clinics. [5] [4] Markley reported that he did not find jail too bad and was pleased to gain some firsthand knowledge of it, having taught criminology courses in the past. [6]
Markley's superior, Bishop Joseph Vath, issued a statement supportive of his actions, stating, "If we are convinced that abortion is the taking of innocent life according to God’s revealed word, he is not acting unjustly according to God’s law in defending the innocent unborn one...The right to life certainly supersedes the right to property or to privacy." [1]
Markley was released from prison in 1987, after serving just over a year of his five-year sentence. His early release, with parole oversight, was credited to a combination of his exemplary behavior while in prison and an anti-abortion letter writing campaign to the parole board. After his release, Markley promised to continue his anti-abortion activism. He also “refused to apologize” for the sledgehammer incident, but stated that “on orders from his superiors he would not engage in any more destruction of property.” [7]
Markley died peacefully at approximately 8:20 AM, January 14, 2019, at the age of 79, in the St. Bernard Abbey at Cullman. The Abbey announced his death with a statement that said "He was an exemplary monk, who will be greatly missed by his brothers." [1]
Eric Robert Rudolph, also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is an American domestic terrorist convicted for a series of bombings across the Southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured over 100 others, including the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. His stated motive was an opposition to "the ideals of global socialism" and to "abortion on demand," both of which he claimed were condoned by the United States government. For five years, Rudolph was listed as one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives until he was caught in 2003.
Barnett Abba Slepian was an American physician and abortion provider who was assassinated in his home by James Charles Kopp, a militant member of the US anti-abortion movement.
Army of God (AOG) is an American Christian terrorist organization, members of which have perpetrated anti-abortion violence. According to the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security's joint Terrorism Knowledge Base, the Army of God is an active underground terrorist organization in the United States. In addition to numerous property crimes, the group has committed acts of kidnapping, attempted murder, and murder. The AOG was formed in 1982 and, while sharing a common ideology and tactics, the group's members claim that they rarely communicate with each other; this is known more formally as leaderless resistance. The group forbids those who wish to "take action against babykilling abortionists" from discussing their plans with anyone in advance.
Anti-abortion violence is a kind of violence committed against individuals and organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion counseling. Incidents of violence have included destruction of property, including vandalism; crimes against people, including kidnapping, stalking, assault, attempted murder, and murder; and crimes affecting both people and property, as well as arson and terrorism, such as bombings.
Clayton Lee Waagner is an American convicted bank robber and anti-abortion terrorist. He was born Roger Waagner in North Dakota. He was an escaped fugitive during the spring, summer and fall of 2001 and was the FBI's 467th fugitive to be placed on the Ten Most Wanted list for carjackings, firearms violations, and bank robbery on September 21, 2001. He was placed on the United States Marshals Service Top 15 Fugitives list for sending more than 280 letters that claimed to contain anthrax, which he mailed to Planned Parenthood with return addresses of the Marshals Service and the Secret Service beginning in October 2001. He is currently in prison.
Joseph Gregory Vath was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama from 1969 to 1987. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Mobile-Birmingham in Alabama from 1966 to 1969.
Peter James Knight is an Australian criminal who murdered a security guard in a Melbourne abortion clinic. Following his arrest and criminal trial, Knight is serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 23 years. As of 2022, the incident remains the only killing by an anti-abortion activist in Australia.
George Richard Tiller was an American physician from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which was one of only three abortion clinics nationwide at the time which provided late termination of pregnancy.
John C. Salvi III was an anti-abortion extremist who carried out fatal shootings at two abortion facilities in Brookline, Massachusetts on December 30, 1994. The shootings killed two and wounded five. An insanity defense at his trial was not successful and he was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He died in 1996 in what was officially ruled a suicide in his jail cell.
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.
Satpal Ram is a British man who was charged and convicted of killing Clarke Pearce in Birmingham, England during a fight in 1986. His case has drawn some controversy due to alleged mistreatment by the courts and the British prison system due to his racial background.
The Ripper Crew or the Chicago Rippers was an organised crime group of serial killers, cannibals, rapists, and necrophiles. The group composed of Robin Gecht and three associates: Edward Spreitzer, and brothers Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis. They were suspected in the disappearances of 17 women in Illinois in 1981 and 1982, as well as the unrelated fatal shooting of a man in a random drive-by shooting. According to one of the detectives who investigated the case, Gecht "made Manson look like a Boy Scout."
This page documents Catholic Church sexual abuse cases by country.
The sexual abuse scandal in the English Benedictine Congregation was a significant episode in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United Kingdom. The dates of the events covered here range from the 1960s to the 2010s.
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.
The innocent prisoner's dilemma, or parole deal, is a detrimental effect of a legal system in which admission of guilt can result in reduced sentences or early parole. When an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime, legal systems which need the individual to admit guilt — as, for example, a prerequisite step leading to parole — punish an innocent person for their integrity, and reward a person lacking in integrity. There have been cases where innocent prisoners were given the choice between freedom, in exchange for claiming guilt, and remaining imprisoned and telling the truth. Individuals have died in prison rather than admit to crimes that they did not commit.
John Allen Burt was an American Christian fundamentalist, anti-abortion activist, and convicted child molester who called himself the "spiritual adviser" to murderers Michael Griffin and Paul Hill and other anti-abortionists. Burt ran "Our Father's House", which began as a Christian ministry and shelter for unwed mothers, later evolving into a private religious reformatory boarding school for "troubled" teenage girls. In 2003, he was arrested for molesting a 15-year-old girl who was living there. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison, where he died in 2013.
Mary Wagner is a Canadian anti-abortion advocate who has served prison sentences for entering abortion clinics to counsel mothers against abortion without consent of the facility staff.
Abortion in Alabama is illegal. Under section 26-23H-4 of the Code of Alabama in the U.S. state of Alabama, it is unlawful for an abortion to be performed unless it is deemed absolutely necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk to the pregnant woman. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.
Abortion in Florida is currently legal until the 15th week of gestation under legislation signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. Since 1989, the Florida Supreme Court has held that Article 1, Section 23 of the Florida Constitution protects access to abortion. This means that, despite the United States Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, abortion remains legal in Florida. However, on April 13, 2023, the Florida Legislature passed and Governor DeSantis signed into law the Heartbeat Protection Act, which outlaws abortion after 6 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, human trafficking, a diagnosis of a fatal fetal abnormality, and when required to save the pregnant woman’s life or protect her health. The Act takes effect if the state Supreme Court upholds the 15-week ban, currently being challenged.