BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When convicted killer Dennis Eaton goes to the execution chamber Thursday in Virginia, he will have an Anderson Township congregation behind him and a Union Township woman beside him.
Mr. Eaton, who killed Virginia state trooper Jerry Hines during a 1989 shooting spree, has asked that Marilyn Kerstine accompany him when he dies by lethal injection Thursday evening.
Mrs. Kerstine is a prison minister at Faith United Church of Christ in Anderson Township, where members will hold a prayer service as Mr. Eaton is being executed.
"He asked me if I would come and hold his hand until he could see Jesus coming for him," said Mrs. Kerstine, 53, who has visited Mr. Eaton at least once a day since Saturday. "He's totally reaching out to other people, and at the same time he's very concerned. He's very afraid -- not of death, but of dying."
Mrs. Kerstine is joined by Maria Hines, a Louisville resident and Trooper Hines' sister, in last-minute pleas for clemency for the convicted killer. Other members of the victim's family support the execution and plan to witness it.
Mrs. Kerstine became involved in prison ministry in 1988 after a friend from church had a relative imprisoned. The Kerstines later moved to Missouri and then Virginia, where she met Mr. Eaton in 1990. She served as his pastor and continued talking to him at least once a week when her family relocated to Cincinnati.
"He's been part of our (Faith UCC) congregation," said Mrs. Kerstine, who traveled to Virginia with Faith member Elizabeth Fiene. "His words have led our communion services."
Faith UCC commissioned Mrs. Kerstine as a prison minister two years ago, and the congregation has begun corresponding with 10 or so other prisoners in Ohio, Kentucky and Massachusetts. Despite Mr. Eaton's presence in the congregation -- he wrote devotionals that were sent to every member -- the ministry hasn't been popular with some Faith members.
"Some of them have the feeling, if they've killed somebody, they should be killed," said the Rev. Daniel Sather, pastor of the congregation. "A lot of Old Testament stuff -- an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It's an attitude that doesn't quite grasp forgiveness and God's grace."
Mrs. Kerstine will pray and share communion elements with Mr. Eaton as Faith UCC members do the same thing hundreds of miles away. The congregation will observe a time of spiritual support for Mrs. Kerstine and will hold a service of reconciliation and remembrance for Mr. Eaton after they are notified of his death.
