Micah Bales and 10 others carried signs as they walked along U.S. Highway 24 from Topeka to Lawrence.
Bales' sign read "Journey for Justice." Another proclaimed "The death penalty is dead wrong," and yet another said "Execution is not the solution."
Protesters walked 184 miles from Topeka to Lawrence to raise awareness about the state death penalty. The protesters walked from Wichita to Topeka, then from Topeka to Lawrence on Friday.
"By killing someone, the government reinforces the idea that lethal force is an acceptable means to solving a problem," said Bales, a member of University Friends Church in Wichita. "I hope that people can see that we believe in the sanctity of life, no matter whose it is."
The group, made up of members of churches in Wichita and surrounding areas, started the 184-mile walk from Wichita on March 16 and reached Topeka on Thursday, Bales said.
On Friday, the group started walking east on U.S. Highway 24 toward Lawrence, where Friday evening they took part in a forum against the death penalty. Ron Wurtz, a prominent capital punishment defense attorney, spoke at the forum.
"Almost every Christian organization has a statement against the death penalty," Bales said. "If all those statements could come together, I think the death penalty would be gone very quickly."
About 30 people, including the walking protesters, attended the forum at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
Wurtz, now a federal public defender for the U.S. District Court system in Kansas, once headed the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit. The unit consists of a team of attorneys who are paid by the state to represent defendants who may face the death penalty.
Occupation aside, Wurtz said he has always opposed the death penalty for religious and moral reasons.
"It is cruel. It is wrong," he said.
There are four people facing the death penalty in Kansas. Their appeals are working their way through the court system, he said.
Wurtz said he left the unit after a few years because the cases took a toll.
"It makes those who participate in the trials angry," he said. "I found myself getting angry at the prosecutors and angry at the judges."
Federal courts also have death penalty cases and it's possible Wurtz could end up handling one, he said.
Also speaking at the forum was Ruth Cunnings, Kansas City, Kan., whose brother was murdered in Chicago. Cunnings opposes the death penalty.
"It (the death penalty) is not a focus on reconciliation, it's a focus on revenge," she said. "Anger and hatred and desire for revenge that's not going to help us."
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