Sometimes government employees switch sides for the money. Sometimes, they do it for philosophical reasons.

For 17 years, Jerry Givens was Virginia’s chief executioner. He was personally responsible for executing 62 people, and felt no remorse for his work during that time.

But these days Givens has a whole new take on the death penalty.

Since leaving his job 13 years ago, Givens has become one of the state’s biggest opponents of capital punishment. He transformed into an anti-death penalty crusader after being convicted of perjury and money laundering in 2000 when he purchased a car with money gained from a friend’s drug dealing. The case cost him his job and shook his confidence in the judicial system because he maintained his innocence. He has said that the introduction of DNA testing that has proven the innocence of prisoners on Death Row palyed a large part in his decision to oppose the death penalty.

Robert Feitel also used to believe wholeheartedly in what he did for the government—prosecuting drug traffickers and money launderers for the U.S. Department of Justice for 22 years.

But now Feitel devotes his legal expertise to defending drug offenders. Feitel, along with other former federal prosecutors and Drug Enforcement Administration agents, also believes the U.S. war on drugs is wrong and a waste of time and resources. He complains that the U.S. system punishes offenders based on the amount of drugs with which they are caught, rather than their position in the criminal hierarchy. This means that a truck driver can end up with a longer sentence that a cartel leader.

What the government should do, Feitel insists today, is legalize cocaine and marijuana. He told The Guardian, “I say that even though it would be bad for my business.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

To Learn More:

Ex-Virginia Executioner Becomes Opponent Of Death Penalty (by Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post)

Interview with an Executioner (by Jim Avila, Mary Harris and Chris Francescani, ABC News)

US Drugs Prosecutors Switch Sides To Defend Accused Colombian Traffickers (by Rory Carroll, The Guardian)