On April 15^th, 2011, long time death penalty abolitionist and death row reformer Marie McFadden Deans died in Charlottesville, Virginia, after losing her battle with lung cancer. Mrs. Deans was 70.

Although many people have never heard of her, Marie Deans of Virginia probably did more to improve the conditions on death row and keep more inmates out of "old sparky" than any individual in modern times. A tireless activist, Deans was drawn into "death work" when her beloved mother-in-law, Penny Deans, was murdered by an escaped convict in 1972. "Catch him", Deans said when the officer at the crime scene promised to ‘catch [the killer] and fry him’, "but don’t kill him for me." From then on she began throwing herself into advocating for the condemned, a decidedly odd reaction to the death of a loved one at the hands of a convicted felon. But that was Marie.

Professor Todd Peppers of Roanoke College wrote in an op-ed about her life that she brought "basic conditions of decency to the men who inhabited Virginia’s death row, ... refin[ed] the use of mitigation evidence in death penalty trials, [and] struggl[ed] to exonerate factually innocent men." Deans was instrumental in having accused killer Joseph Giaritano’s sentence commuted to life when outgoing Virginia governor Douglas L. Wilder found the details of the conviction troubling. She was also the key figure in having Earl Washington, Jr., who had been sentenced to death for the murder and rape of a Culpepper, Virginia woman, exonerated by DNA evidence and eventually awarded $2 million in damages.

In 1976, Deans founded the anti-death penalty group Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation to provide a forum from which death penalty abolitionists who’d lost loved ones to violence, could safely speak their minds.

Close associate Marshal Dayan said he would most remember "the passion, commitment, humor, faith, and perseverance that marked her character. I will always remember her gravelly laugh and ribald sense of humor, her sparkling eyes, and her humility. She rarely took or accepted credit."

My own encounter with Mrs. Deans was brief but to the point. On the eve of the execution of a death row convict I had been visiting for the previous two years, I received an email stating simply,

"Greg,

I just wanted you to know that I am thinking of you and Brian and feeling so sad for both of you.

Marie"

I wish I had known her better, though I doubt she’d have much time for me unless I was a criminal defense attorney willing to represent one of her clients, pro bono of course. Like most in that field, Marie worked around the clock, possibly accounting for her three divorces and strained relationship with her son, Joel McFadden. "It's hard to share your mother," he said. "She had this emotional energy for it, and she didn’t always have that for everyone else. But I admired the hell out of her for it." Besides McFadden, Deans is survived by another son, Robert Deans of Charlottesville, Virginia, and three grandchildren.

Regardless of which side of the death penalty issue you stood on, you couldn’t help but admire Marie for her selflessness and tenacity when it came to the issue of death row. She hated it, but turned her aggression into action and of the over 200 cases she worked on, only two resulted in executions. In a state that executes more people than any other - excepting Texas - that’s saying quite a bit. We won’t see the likes of Marie Deans anytime soon. Rest In Peace Marie.