With small candles providing the only warmth, concerned citizens gathered outside Gov. Bob Taft’s mansion last night to protest the execution of Jay D. Scott, who will be put to death by lethal injection tonight.

Armed with intricately constructed signs and props, protesters took a spiritual approach to what they think is the wrongful execution of Scott.

“We believe Scott will be murdered around the Easter holiday because the government wants people to know that they have no respect for spiritual values,” said Tanya Biesecker of the Prison Advocacy Network.

Biesecker thinks the connection with God makes it wrong to commit murder, whether it be inside or outside of the prison system.

One of the main goals of the activities leading up to the execution is the education of the public.

“People are what make the courts change their minds,” said Winie Wirth, for Amnesty International. “In the cases involving women, voting and slavery, it was the public education and protesting that swayed the courts.”

Representatives from the religious world have a positive outlook of the possibility that Jay D. Scott’s execution being postponed or even canceled.

“I had a dream last night that churchgoers and religious people would come to the mansion and Taft would come out and serve us tea and cookies,” said Gary Wirth, a United Methodist Church minister. “We still have all day tomorrow.”

“Even though Scott was denied in his competency hearing (yesterday), we think the courts will make the right decision (today),” said Wirth. “The simple fact that Scott is a diagnosed schizophrenic is reason enough not to put him to death.”

Scott wouldn’t be the first mentally ill convict to be put to death. Wilford Lee Berry, Jr. was voluntarily put to death in 1999 after he murdered a Cleveland baker.

Scott is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 9 this evening for the shooting death of a delicatessen owner in Cuyahoga County.

Several of the protesters said they would like to have the support of Ohio State students in the rallying for Scott. Students and the public are invited to gather at Taft’s mansion starting at 6 p.m. There will be singing and discussion concerning the fate that Scott faces.

Several churches and religious institutions around the country will chime their bells at the scheduled time of the execution.