The night of Michael Ross’ execution, Jennifer Tabor Garcia carried her favorite picture of her older sister Robin, who had been raped and murdered by Ross — despite the fact that she had been told not to do so. She had hidden the photo in her bra and held it as she watched Ross die. A year later I asked her if she thought death was the proper penalty for her sister killer.” She took a deep breath. “No. The death penalty hurts everybody. It didn’t do us any favor, but it took us a long time to understand it…. I can’t say I am against the death penalty or that I am for it.” She said when there’s a death penalty, the system punishes the families. “After a trial, the families have to wait and wait…for decades as the process slowly plays out.” The time that the victims’ families have to wait for some sort of closure is one of the many reasons that Tsarnaev should not have been given a death sentence.

I am morally opposed to the death penalty for anyone. Killing is wrong no matter who does it — a serial killer or a state or the federal government. I do not excuse the horrific and painful damage that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev caused. He should be punished — but by keeping him incarcerated for the rest of his life. Given his age, he might have to spend many decades being held in a small cell — with only a few hours a week allowed out for showers or exercise.

I interviewed the serial killer Michael Ross for more than a decade, speaking with him at least once a week — and near the end of his life as many as three times a day. Although I was petrified when I met him, a brutal murderer who raped and murdered eight women, he and I became close over the years. Watching him die at the hands of my home state was agony. But it was also an agonizing process for many of Michael’s victims.

Many people like to cite the Old Testament’s recipe of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. However, they take that as an imperative rather than the context in which it was handed down — never do more to someone than he or she has done to you. It also forgets the Ten Commandments’ prohibition against killing.

The most practical reason for not having a death penalty is that it costs on average $2 million more to execute someone than to keep him or her in a high security prison for the rest of their life. Since Tsarnaev is indigent the federal government will be paying both for the prosecution and the defense lawyers throughout all his appeals.

It is perhaps a rationalization to think that only guilty people are executed and that only the worst of the worst are sentenced to death. One only needs to read Bryan Stevenson’s new book, Just Mercy, to understand that there are many innocent people on death row for all sorts of reasons. Many people who are sentenced to death are mentally ill. No matter how many psychiatrists examine them, we often do not know how much of a factor their illnesses had in the commission of the crime.

Tsarnaev was guilty of planting the bomb that killed four people and crippled many others. He murdered a policeman. He was not mentally ill. So why should his life be spared?

Some say he showed no remorse. He was nineteen, a teenager, when he committed these crimes and whether right or wrong believed in a cause that was espoused by his older brother and religious leaders he respected. He would have to reject all that he believes in about his family and religion to have true remorse. Perhaps decades of time to reflect on his actions could provide him with the time and maturity to finally feel sorry for his crimes. If executed, he will become a martyr. His death could cause even more deaths in retribution.

If I am ever the victim of a heinous crime, I do not want my killer to die. Although if one of my family were murdered, my natural instinct might be to want their murderer dead, I would plead for his or her life. Two killings accomplish nothing.

I asked Jennifer Garcia if Michael Ross’ death had given her closure. Without hesitation she said, “Closure? What does that mean?” She said that closure is just a word. “Robin’s death still haunts me.” She said that Ross’s execution was just one step in a long path, but that it would never be over. “I have grieved my whole life, and to watch one human being die did not make that go away.” Killing Tsarnaev will not make the Boston bombing go away.