Capital punishment: How one mother has battled to save the life of the man who killed her daughter

How one mother’s battle to save the life of the man who killed her daughter has focused attention again on the case for capital punishment. By Emily Bazeion

On a Saturday evening in July 2013, just before 6:30, James Rhodes was recorded on a surveillance camera walking into a Metro PCS phone store in Jacksonville, Florida.

He was wearing a black do-rag and a blue bandanna, which he pulled over his nose and mouth. Shelby Farah, the store manager, stood behind the counter. Rhodes pointed a gun at her and demanded the money in the cash register. Shelby gave it to him. Then Rhodes shot her in the head. She was 20 years old. He was 21.