MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE
Released January 16, 2001
Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty
Introduction:
With the Furman
v. Georgia decision in 1972, the Supreme Court halted executions in the
United States primarily because of evidence of arbitrariness and racial
injustice. With Gregg v. Georgia in 1976 the Supreme Court gave approval
to the states to carry out capital punishment on the premise that it would be
administered with fairness and justice. Since the re-instatement of the death
penalty in Missouri forty-six individuals have been executed. Examination of
these cases reveals that Missouri s death penalty is not meeting the standards
expected by Gregg v. Georgia.
The basis
of our research comes from clemency applications submitted to the Governor by
civic and religious leaders as well as attorneys for the individuals facing
execution. The executive clemency process exists to correct "miscarriages
of justice" that may occur during the judicial process. Clemency
applications typically include the legal/procedural issues of the case as well
as mitigating factors in the person s background that exhibit the need for
mercy.
While
Missouri governors have used the power of executive clemency on rare occasions
to halt executions, our research indicates systemic flaws in the way death
penalty cases are tried and appealed. Poor legal representation, racism and
disproportionality in sentencing are common problems. The safeguards in the
system are not preventing these miscarriages of justice.
Our
research indicates:
* Individuals have been executed who have credible claims of
actual innocence based on witness testimony or evidence.
* Individuals have been
executed when their co-defendants received lesser sentences, especially if the
co-defendants cooperated with law enforcement or the prosecution.
* Individuals have been
executed who have reduced mental capacity.
* Individuals have been
executed when there were serious problems with the legal procedures used to
convict and sentence them.
* An individual was executed
who committed the crime while a juvenile.
While
Missouri officials, such as the Governor and the Attorney General, maintain
that Missouri has been cautious and careful in administering the death penalty,
there is increasing evidence to the contrary. We believe the systemic problems
detected in this report substantiate the need for a statewide moratorium on
executions in our state.
1
There is
growing momentum in our country to support a moratorium on executions. Governor
George Ryan of Illinois imposed a moratorium in his state in January, 2000
because that state's death penalty system was so flawed. State legislatures in
Nebraska and New Hampshire have also passed moratorium bills, although the
governors in both states vetoed the proposals. Nationwide, hundreds of local
governments and organizations have supported measures calling for a moratorium
on executions. Residents of Missouri recognize the need to halt executions in
our state. According to a 1999 statewide survey conducted by the Center for
Social Sciences and Public Policy Research of Southwest Missouri State
University, 56 percent of the respondents supported a three-year delay of
scheduled executions to investigate sentencing practices.
Today
approximately 80 individuals live under the sentence of death in Missouri.
Unless Missouri is willing to institute a moratorium on executions,
miscarriages of justice will likely continue in our state.
2
Individuals with Credible Claims of Actual Innocence
Based on Witnesses or Evidence
Gerald
Smith (Executed 1/18/90)
Gerald
Smith received the death sentence for the 1980 murder of Karen Roberts in St.
Louis. In a sworn affidavit in 1988, Timothy Smith, brother of Gerald,
identified another brother, Eugene, as the person who actually killed Ms.
Roberts. Timothy s story was supported independently by other individuals and
was more in line with the physical evidence of the case. Over the years Gerald,
who had a history of psychological disorders and suicide attempts, told two
different stories of the murder. One was consistent with Timothy s while the
other was used by Gerald when heapparently wanted to end his life.
Maurice O.
Byrd (Executed 8/23/91)
Maurice
Byrd was executed for the murders of James Wood, Carolyn Turner, Edna Ince, and
Judy Cazaco in Pope s Cafeteria in Des Peres in 1980. Robbery had also been
part of the crime. Four years after Byrd s trial, an unbiased eyewitness came
forward identifying two other African-American men as individuals she
encountered coming out of the mall near the cafeteria early on the morning of
the murders. (The witness said she waited to come forward for fear of
retaliation by the real killers.) She recalled one of the men was carrying a
large bag. The witness had recognized Byrd as someone she had previously seen
working in the mall and knew he was not one of the two men she saw at the mall
that morning.
The
prosecution had no eyewitnesses, but relied on pretrial statements (later
recanted) made by Byrd s wife that he told her he had killed three people in
Missouri. The prosecution otherwise relied on the self-interested testimony of
jail cellmates who were in a position to gain advantage in their own cases by
testifying against Byrd. This case also had serious issues of racial bias in
that Byrd was an African-American and the victims in the case were Caucasians.
He was tried and convicted by an all Caucasian jury after the state prosecution
used its peremptory strikes to exclude the African-American veniremen.
Walter J.
Blair (Executed 7/21/93)
Walter
Blair, an African-American, was convicted of the contract murder of Kathy Jo
Allen, a Caucasian, in 1979. The case against Blair relied primarily upon the
testimony of Ernest Jones, a police informant. Jones testified that Blair had
told him, before and after the murder, of the plot to kill Ms. Allen. However,
Jones credibility was suspect because he received immunity for any part he
played in the murder. Ironically, police officers arrested Jones the day after
the shooting when they learned he and his brother had pawned a ring stolen from
the victim s boyfriend during the kidnapping. Officers also realized Jones had
stolen the murder weapon in a burglary of his next-door neighbor s home.
Furthermore, the victim s boyfriend identified Jones in a police lineup as the
person who had kidnapped Ms. Allen at gunpoint before she was murdered. Two
other witnesses observed a man matching Jones s description leaving the scene
of the murder just after they heard shots f! ired.
Eventually, six more witnesses came forward in the
months before Blair s execution, four of them reporting Jones boasted he killed
Allen and helped frame Blair. Another
3
admitted
he dropped Jones off at the victim s apartment just before the kidnapping and
murder. Jones s girlfriend also stated in an affidavit that she and Jones had
lied about Blair s involvement in the killing. Blair was convicted by an
all-Caucasian jury in a trial in which the prosecutor, in his closing
statements, called the victim "the lovely white woman" and Blair
"the black man with the gun".
Larry
Griffin (Executed 6/ 21/ 95)
Larry
Griffin was sentenced to death for the June 26, 1980 drive-by shooting of
Quintin Moss, a known drug dealer. The alleged motive for the crime was revenge
for Moss killing Griffin s brother several months earlier. The prosecution s
only direct evidence of Griffin s guilt was presented through the eyewitness
testimony of Robert Fitzgerald, a career criminal and federally-protected
witness, whose car allegedly had broken down on the corner shortly before the
crime occurred.
Thirteen years later in a federal prison,
Fitzgerald admitted committing perjury when he positively identified Griffin in
court as the person he saw shoot Moss. Fitzgerald also testified that the
police suggested to him that he pick out Griffin s photo before he did so. Also
in 1993 another witness came forward with testimony supporting Griffin s
innocence. Kerry Caldwell was a hit man for a drug gang that operated in St. Louis
in the 1980s. In 1990 he also joined the federal witness protection program and
became a prosecution witness in another case. He subsequently testified before
a federal judge that he was the look-out man when three men -- other than
Griffin -- killed Moss.
Roy
Roberts (Executed 3/10/99)
Roy
Roberts was sentenced to death for allegedly holding a prison guard, Thomas
Jackson, while two other prisoners stabbed him to death during a riot in 1983
at the Moberly Training Center for Men. Serious questions remain whether
Roberts had any part in the killing. A Department of Corrections (DOC)
investigation of the riot, which included interviews of many guards and
prisoners, identified Robert Driscoll and Rodney Carr as the inmates who
attacked Jackson. No mention was made of Roberts. Soon after the stabbing,
guards confiscated from Driscoll and Carr their bloody clothes. No blood was
found on Roberts clothes (a remarkable occurrence if the state s version of
events was accurate and Roberts held Jackson while the two men stabbed him
several times in the heart and eye).
It wasn t until a few weeks after the DOC report,
that one guard, Denver Halley recalled seeing Roberts holding Jackson during
the riot. Roberts was convicted primarily on the testimony of Halley and two
guards, one of whom had to be hypnotized before he could recall seeing Roberts
holding the guard. None of the three guards identified Roberts when initially
questioned. Roberts maintained he did get in a fistfight with a different guard
during the riot, but insisted he was not involved in Jackson s death. Several
prisoners and the guard he fought with corroborated his testimony. A few days
before being executed, Roberts also passed a polygraph test in which he
maintained his innocence.
4
Individuals who were Sentenced to Death while
Co-defendants Received Lesser Sentences,
Especially when they
Cooperated with Law-enforcement
and/or Prosecutors
George
Mercer (Executed 1/6/89)
George
Mercer was convicted of the murder of Karen Keeton of Kansas City in 1978. A
co-defendant was given a life sentence while Mercer was given the death
penalty.
Leonard
Laws (Executed 5/17/90)
Leonard
Laws was given the death sentence for the 1980 murders of Charles and Lottie
Williams of Glenco. His conviction was on the basis of accomplice liability.
The undisputed evidence from trial transcript was that Laws provided the
lookout and was outside the building while two others actually committed the
murders. One of the other co-defendants received a fifteen year sentence in
exchange for testimony. The other co-defendant was executed in 1990.
Emmitt
Foster (Executed 5/3/95)
Co-defendant Michael Phillips received a life sentence plus two
30-year sentences for the 1983 killing of Travis Walker and the related assault
of DeAnn Keys in North St. Louis. Emmitt Foster was sentenced to death although
there was evidence to support his claim of innocence. The prosecution withheld
exculpatory evidence of the investigation report and there was no physical
evidence to link Foster to the scene of the crime. The only eyewitness (Keys)
sustained four gunshot wounds to the back of the head prior to the
identification of her assailants. From all evidence she was shot in an area of
the apartment which would have precluded her from seeing the second assailant.
This evidence would have presented reasonable
doubt as to the guilt of Foster but was not heard by the jury. Ineffective
assistance of counsel resulted in Foster receiving a death sentence for the
murder.
Robert
Anthony Murray (Executed 7/26/95)
Both
Anthony Murray and his older brother, William, were involved in the robbery
that took place in the apartment prior to the murders of Jeffrey Jackson and
Craig Stewart in 1985. Conflicting court testimony of the two women victims who
escaped made it difficult to determine who actually did the shooting. However,
there were many other witnesses who could have testified that William was the
shooter. Yet, William received a life sentence while Anthony received a death
sentence. William later confessed to being the killer. Ineffective assistance
of counsel resulted in Anthony s wrongful execution.
5
Doyle
Williams (Executed 4/10/96)
Kerry
Brummett drowned, while handcuffed, in 1981 in the Missouri River in Clay
County after running from Doyle Williams and John Morgan. Both Williams and
Morgan had earlier assaulted Brummett and had weapons that they could have used
to shoot the victim had they wished. Morgan testified that neither he nor
Williams forced the victim into the water or pushed him under. After the victim
ran into the river, Williams dove into the water to look for him. Williams
received the death penalty; Morgan received a lesser sentence.
Eric
Schneider (Executed 1/29/97)
Eric
Schneider was one of three men convicted in the robbery and killings of Richard
Schwendemann and Ronald Thompson in their home in 1985. One of the
co-defendants who participated in the stabbings was sentenced to three
consecutive life sentences. Another defendant, who cooperated with police in
the investigation, was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Milton
Griffin-El (Executed 3/25/98)
Milton
Griffin-El was convicted of the killings of Loretta Trotter and Jerome Redden
in 1986 during an apartment robbery that involved five men. The jury that
convicted Griffin-El sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of
Trotter, but could not decide on the penalty for the murder of Redden. The
sentencing decision passed to the trial judge who sentenced him to death for
the murder of Redden. The co-defendant, who was identified by all involved as
the instigator of the crime and who also participated in the stabbing, received
a life sentence.
Roy Ramsey
(Executed 4/14/99)
Ramsey
received the death sentence, while his brother Billy got a 25-year sentence in
exchange for testifying against Roy in the robbery/murders of Garnett and Betty
Ledford in Grandview in 1988. The prosecutor made inflammatory closing
statements, calling Roy Rambo 14 times. Billy, who is the likely killer, was
eligible for parole last year.
Bruce
Kilgore (Executed 6/16/99)
Both Bruce
Kilgore and his co-defendant, Willie Luckett, were convicted in separate trials
of the stabbing death of Marilyn Wilkins in St. Louis in 1986. Only Luckett had
motive to kill the victim. Kilgore did not know the victim. On the day before
the murder, Luckett s employers fired him because the victim reported that he
was stealing food from the restaurant where they worked together.
During the opening statements of Kilgore s trial,
the prosecutor did not state it was Kilgore who stabbed the victim. In fact,
the guilt phase jury instructions identified Luckett as the person who stabbed
the victim. During the penalty phase, the state s theory changed when Luckett s
girlfriend shocked everyone in the courtroom and declared for her first time
that Kilgore admitted stabbing the victim. Previously, Luckett s girlfriend had
given statements to the police and other authorities, but it was only when she
testified before Kilgore s jury that she stated Kilgore told her he had killed
the victim. Just prior to her testimony, Luckett s girlfriend received
probation for her role in the victim s death, and her
6
testimony
greatly benefited Luckett by shifting responsibility to Kilgore. Only Kilgore
received the death penalty despite his credible claim that it was Luckett who
actually killed the victim.
Robert
Walls (Executed 6/30/99)
There were
two other co-defendants in this case who were also convicted for the 1985
murder of Fred Harmon in his home in St. Louis. Like Robert Walls, Terry Wilson
and Tommy Thomas had also walked away from the halfway house, had prior records
and participated in the murder. Yet only Walls received the death sentence for
the crime. Walls s trial was constitutionally unfair due to the ineffective
assistance of counsel he received, and more importantly due to the prosecutor s
misconduct in withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense. The other
defendants received life and life without parole sentences. Wilson had a parole
hearing date in 2000.
David
Leisure (Executed 9/1/99)
There were
two other co-defendants convicted for the 1980 car bombing that killed James
Michaels in St. Louis. Paul Leisure and Anthony Leisure, cousins of David, who
planned the bombing were also convicted in separate trials, yet neither
received the death penalty. Instead, each was sentenced to life imprisonment
without possibility of parole for 50 years. The federal pre-sentence
investigation report ranked the cousins as first and second in culpability. It
ranked David third. David had an IQ in the low seventies at the time of his
trial. Fred Prater, the admitted maker of the bomb, received no prison sentence
in exchange for being a chief prosecutorial witness.
David Leisure was represented by a collections
attorney who used a law student as his conduit of information to and from David
and whose thinking he relied on for strategy. It was not until February 1999
that it was learned that this law student had been laboring under the adverse
psychological effects of untreated chemical dependency during Leisure s trial.
Individuals who had Reduced Mental Capacity
George
Gilmore (Executed 8/31/90)
George
Gilmore was sentenced to death for the1979-80 murders of four elderly people,
Mary Luella Watters, Woodrow Elliott, and Clarence and Lottie Williams. Gilmore
grew up in a very deprived and abusive home in which both parents were
alcoholic. While in school Gilmore attended a program for mentally retarded
students who were educable. Records show he had a Benet IQ score of 65. (IQ
refers to a person s level of intelligence as measured by a particular
intelligence test. Mental health experts consider a valid IQ score of 75 or
less to be one of the indicators of mental retardation.) Gilmore also suffered
two significant head injuries in 1973 and 1980.
Ricky Lee
Grubbs (executed 10/21/92)
Ricky Lee
Grubbs was convicted of killing Jerry Thornton in 1984. Psychological testing
throughout his childhood, found Grubbs had I.Q. scores in the low 70 s. He
received failing
7
grades all
his life and was placed in special education classes for two years. A
psychiatric evaluation indicated Grubbs had low mental function and that he was
not able to think through the consequences of his actions. Also, his
intoxication at the time of the crime diminished his conscious control which,
combined with his low mental function, rendered Grubbs incapable of forming the
necessary intent to deliberate.
Frank
Guinan (Executed 10/6/93)
Frank
Guinan was given the death sentence for murdering fellow inmate John McBroom at
the prison in Jefferson City in 1982. Psychological testing in 1990 and 1991
found that Guinan did not have the ability to deliberate at the time of the
homicide. Testing concluded he had mild to moderate brain damage that prevented
him from thinking logically or clearly in any kind of stressful situation He
can act, but can t think. Guinan had a history of attempted suicide and had
taken extensive psychotropic medications in prison.
Guinan's trial attorney offered no mitigating
evidence during the penalty phase of his trial. The jury also never had the
opportunity to consider evidence from four eyewitnesses who saw the stabbing of
McBroom and would have testified that another inmate wielded the knife.
Moreover, at least one of these eyewitnesses had sworn that he was intimidated
by prison officials into not testifying to what he actually saw. Other
witnesses not called at the trial would testify that it was common knowledge
among inmates and corrections officials at the Missouri State Penitentiary that
Richard Zeitvogel, rather than Guinan, had killed McBroom.
Anthony J.
LaRette (Executed 11/29/95)
Anthony
LaRette was given the death sentence for the murder of Mary Fleming of St.
Louis in 1980. Records show that no less than eight institutions over 30 years
diagnosed and treated LaRette for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. This condition
resulted in him having seizures that caused him to go into a rage, foam at the
mouth, involuntarily urinate, rip off his clothes and black out. Upon waking,
LaRette would have no memory of his actions. At various times in his life these
seizures occurred between one-three times a week, some lasting as long as 40
minutes. At least one doctor reported that his assaults on women were probably
committed during these black-out periods. It was difficult to find medication
to treat LaRette because of other medical conditions he had. None of this
information was presented to the jury.
Robert O
Neal (Executed 12/6/95)
Robert O
Neal was convicted of killing fellow inmate Arthur Dade in the Missouri State
Penitentiary in 1984. Although testing was recommended at the time of the trial
for brain dysfunction, O Neal did not receive a complete psychiatric evaluation
until 1993. This evaluation revealed classic symptoms associated with an
organically-based attention-deficit disorder; a traumatic brain injury as a
teenager, work exposure to toxic substances that could have resulted in
significant intellectual deterioration and a long history of alcohol and
substance abuse.
The prosecution failed to disclose that one of its
lead witnesses, Officer Maylee, had a prior criminal record. Disclosure of that
information certainly would have substantially reduced, if not destroyed
Maylee's credibility at trial.
8
Jeffrey
Paul Sloan (Executed 2/21/96)
Jeffrey
Sloan admitted to killing his father Paul, his mother Judith, and his brothers
Tim and Jason in December 1985. The jury never heard significant mitigating
factors (helping to explain his behavior) including substantial physical and
emotional abuse that was perpetrated upon Jeff by his father. Neighbors,
although alarmed by the abuse, declined to alert authorities. Psychiatric evaluations
indicated significant cognitive deficiencies that were the result of a learning
disability and/or profound head trauma. Psychological testing endorsed a
possible diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and clear evidence of thought
disordered thinking. Sloan s attorney was disbarred shortly after Jeff s trial,
having himself been convicted of laundering drug money.
Glennon
Paul Sweet (Executed 4/22/98)
Glennon
Sweet was convicted of killing highway patrol trooper Russell Harper in 1987
outside of Springfield. Sweet had a history of mental problems and head
injuries. Sweet s mother drank regularly when she was pregnant with him and he
displayed many symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. During elementary school
years he displayed signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a
learning disability that went untreated. Testing indicated that neurological
impairments may have been linked to several head injuries including a cerebral
concussion caused by a car accident. Serious questions remain concerning police
investigation practices used in the case. Sweet's attorney failed to develop a
variety of leads to create reasonable doubt in the jurors.
Richard
Oxford (Executed 8/21/96)
Richard
Oxford was convicted for the double murder of Harold and Melba Wampler, a rural
Jasper County couple in 1986. According to psychiatric evaluations Oxford
demonstrated behavioral and intellectual abnormalities beginning at an early
age and increasing in severity as he matured. At ten years of age he was sniffing
airplane glue and was found "blue" from the use. He was referred for
psychiatric treatment at eleven years of age and from that time on, he was
institutionalized in juvenile treatment centers or incarcerated for the
majority of the time.
Samuel L.
McDonald (Executed 9/24/97)
Samuel
McDonald was convicted of killing Robert Jordan, an off-duty St. Louis police
officer in 1981 in the course of a robbery. Through the failure of his trial
counsel, the jurors did not know that psychiatric evaluations revealed that
McDonald had a full complement of symptoms related to Post-traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) including frequent flashbacks of memories from his tour of duty
as a machine gunner during the Vietnam War. McDonald recalled being traumatized
by many war experiences, including one documented night battle in which more
than 75-percent of the soldiers in his company were killed. He spent five
terrifying days stuck behind enemy lines unsure whether he d be captured or
killed. This disorder caused McDonald to have a diminished capacity to
deliberate and choose his behavior.
Reginald
Powell (Executed 2/25/98)
9
Reginald
Powell was barely 18 years old when he killed Freddie Miller and Lee Miller in
St. Louis after they apparently had attacked him. Powell, who had a history of
drug and alcohol abuse, had been found to have an IQ of 65 and had been
previously placed in a public school special education program. Testing also
indicated that Powell was severely impaired by an Auditory Selective Attention
Disorder.
Powell s trial was hampered by the fact that his
inexperienced trial attorney had an affair with him and did not represent his
interests effectively. A competent lawyer would have recommended accepting the
state s offer to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. Powell s attorney
was devastated by his conviction. By not informing her client of his
fundamental right to testify, Powell's attorney adversely affected the fairness
of the trial. Even without hearing from Powell, the jury could not agree on a
death sentence, so it was the trial judge alone who made the sentencing
decision.
David
Leisure ( Executed 9/1/99)
David
Leisure (highlighted on p. 7) had two IQ tests performed on him in 1987 with
scores of 70 and 74 which put him in the range of mental retardation.
Psychological evaluations of David in 1994 concluded that there was strong
basis to suspect that Leisure has suffered brain damage or brain disease.
James
Hampton (Executed 3/22/00)
James
Hampton had been incarcerated most of his life and had attempted suicide on
more than one occasion. In 1992 Hampton killed Frances Keaton in rural Callaway
County and fled to New Jersey. In the process of being arrested there for
another homicide, Hampton attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Consequently, a significant portion of his left frontal lobe was removed. As a
result he suffered from seizures and memory loss. Evaluation by a neurologist
revealed the frontal lobe injury affected his judgment and resulted in severe
paranoia that rose to the level of delusion. Hampton refused to continue the
appeals that were available to him and expressed a wish to be executed.
Individuals who had Serious Problems with the Legal
Procedures used in Conviction and Sentencing
Winfred
Stokes (Executed 5/11/90)
Winfred
Stokes was convicted of the stabbing murder of Pamela Benda of University City
in 1978. He was also charged with the murder of an elderly woman in 1977. As
part of a plea agreement Stokes was to plea guilty to second degree murder in
both cases in exchange for 50 year sentences to run concurrently. Unfortunately
an incorrect statement about him in the local paper resulted in his refusal to
accept the plea agreement and he was subsequently convicted of capital murder
and given the death sentence.
Other legal issues raised included that Stokes was
African-American, the victim was a Caucasian female, and Stokes was convicted
by an all-Caucasian jury. The judge also refused to allow the jury to consider
that as recent as three weeks prior to the murder, the victim had sought police
protection from her boyfriend because of death threats and
10
repeatedly-inflicted physical violence. The boyfriend had a more
substantial motive than Stokes yet the jury was not allowed to consider this
relevant evidence.
Martsay
Bolder (Executed 1/27/93)
Early in
1979, Theron King was assigned as Mr. Bolder s cellmate. King was twenty years
older than Bolder and he used his age and experience to taunt and harass Bolder.
Eventually the harassment became too much for Bolder. In March of that year,
Bolder stabbed Theron King. Evidence obtained indicated that King died of an
infection caused by hospital staff six weeks after the stabbing when they
removed fluid from King s chest by passing a hypodermic needle through the
location of his abdominal wound. Bolder requested the governor to convene a
hearing to determine whether using the wound area for this procedure
constituted malpractice.
In his dissenting opinion, Robert E. Seiler of the
Missouri Supreme Court in State v. Bolder stated: If the murder in the present
case had occurred in a tavern or on a parking lot or elsewhere outside the
prison walls by someone not in confinement, there would have been no reasonable
likelihood, in my opinion, of the prosecutor being able to obtain a capital
murder conviction, much less the death penalty. It would work out as a second
degree murder case.
Robert
Sidebottom (Executed 11/15/95)
Robert
Sidebottom was convicted of killing his 74-year-old grandmother, Mae
Sidebottom. No legal counsel was available to file a habeas corpus petition in
federal court. The cutoff of federal funds resulted in the abrupt closing of
the Capital Punishment Resource Center which had provided legal counsel to
Sidebottom for six years.
Thomas
Battle (Executed 8/7/96)
Always
asserting his innocence of the murder of Birdie Johnson in 1980, Thomas Battle
admitted to intending to commit burglary when he entered her house with two
accomplices. But Battle insisted he fled when the victim woke and made a noise.
Much substantial and credible evidence of innocence was not presented to the
jury because Battle s attorney had never tried a capital case. Two witnesses
implicated Elroy Preston, a man who committed other murdered others and who had
confessed to murdering Johnson. The evidence was never considered by appellate
courts due to procedural barriers.
11
Richard
Zeitvogel (Executed 12/11/96)
Richard
Zeitvogel was sentenced to death for the killing of fellow inmate Gary Dew in a
Jefferson City prison in 1983. Zietvogel was a witness to an attempted murder
in the basement of the prison chapel. He helped prison officials solve the
crime by identifying Dew as one of the attackers. Dew s attorney, Julian
Ossman, told Dew who identified him. While awaiting sentending, despite Dew s
threats of retaliation against Zeitvogel for snitching on him, Dew and
Zeitvogel were placed in the same cell. After Dew s death when Zeitvogel was
charged with capital murder, Julian Ossman, the same attorney who represented
Dew, was appointed to represent Zeitvogel. At the very least this scenario
represented a conflict of interest on the part of the trial counsel which may
have impacted his actions. Ossman failed to adequately present evidence of
self-defense to the jury or evidence that the chapel incident led to Dew's
death.
Ralph
Feltrop (Executed 8/6/97)
Ralph
Feltrop maintained that he killed his live-in girlfriend Barbara Ann Roam in
self-defense in 1987. The victim s known propensity for physically attacking
her boyfriends, and Feltrop s passive personality and unusual psychological
background, all suggested he indeed acted in self-defense. Feltrop s attorney
failed to present any of this information to the jury.
Donald
Reese (Executed 8/13/97)
Reese
received the death sentence for the murders of Chris Griffith and James Watson
at a rifle range in 1988. His conviction and sentence were based on a coerced
inculpatory statement that was written by a sheriff for Reese to sign.
Substantial information that should have been presented at trial that Reese was
clinically depressed and probably suicidal at the time of the involuntary
statement. In addition, there were no fingerprints or other unique physical evidence
connecting him to the crimes, Many leads were developed during the
investigation that should have led law enforcement to other suspects. Reese
received inadequate representation by counsel at trial. The procedural
restrictions placed upon the federal courts prevented meaningful review of his
constitutional claims.
Andrew Six
(Executed 8/20/97)
Andrew Six
and his uncle, Donald Petary, were convicted of the killing of 12-year old
Kathy Allen in northern Missouri in 1987. The jury that found Six guilty of
first degree murder was unable to agree that he be sentenced to death. The
decision whether Six should live or be put to death fell into the hands of the
trial judge, E. Richard Webber, who had urged the bankrupt county to go ahead
with the capital trial. Judge Webber imposed the death sentence just an hour
and a half after the jury announced their impasse.
Alan
Bannister (Executed 10/22/97)
Alan
Bannister never denied killing Darrell Ruestman in 1982. However he
consistently maintained that the shooting was the result of a struggle between
the two men and not the deliberate contract killing proposed by the
prosecution. Bannister confronted Ruestman because he was incorrectly led to
believe that Ruestman had been responsible for two
12
attempts
on his life (a near-fatal stabbing and a drive-by shooting). Bannister s court
appointed attorney conducted little or no investigation into the facts of the
case. In addition, his counsel presented no defense during either the guilt or
penalty phases of trial. An investigation of the physical evidence in the 1990
s by an independent journalist and filmmaker strongly supported Bannister s
story.
Kelvin
Malone (Executed 1/13/99)
Kelvin
Malone was convicted of the 1981 fatal shooting of William Parr, a St. Louis
cab driver. Malone s trial lawyer did not seriously work on his case until
about two weeks prior to the jury trial. He presented no evidence during the
trial s guilt phase. Some of his mistakes include: not calling material
witnesses from the scene who would have cast doubt on the prosecution s case; a
total failure to prepare and address the sudden and unfair in-court
identification of Malone as being a man near Parr s cab; overlooking the
inconclusiveness of ballistic reports that allegedly connected Malone with Parr
s death; and the potentially fatal omission of presenting true mitigating
evidence during Malone s penalty phase. Malone passed a polygraph indicating he
truthfully stated he did not kill the victim.
James
Rodden (Executed 2/24/99)
James
Rodden was convicted of the 1983 murders of his roommate Joe Bob Arnold and
Lynn Cherry Trunnell, a woman he had just met in a tavern. In most cases
involving multiple crimes that occurred in the same episode, the prosecution
joins all of the crimes for one trial because the proof of each crime is based
upon the same evidence. In this case, the prosecution inexplicably severed the
two murders for two separate trials. The arbitrary nature of the death penalty
is shown in that both juries, which heard the same evidence, convicted Rodden
of capital murder. Yet one jury recommended life without parole and the other
recommended death. The differences were that Rodden only testified about
self-defense in the trial he received life without parole. The defense attorney
did not call any mitigating witnesses in the second trial.
Ralph
Davis (Executed 4/28/99)
Ralph
Davis received the death sentence for the 1985 murder of his wife, Susan, whose
body was never found. Davis was initially charged with second degree murder, a
non-capital offense under Missouri law for which the maximum punishment is life
with eligibility for parole after fifteen years. At the third trial setting of
the case, Davis's court-appointed attorney knew that the prosecutor intended to
upgrade the charge to first degree murder and seek the death penalty if the
case was not disposed of as scheduled. Knowing this fact, and without
consulting Davis, he nevertheless sought a continuance.
Trial counsel failed to attend the hearing on the
motion, and instead sent an assistant. At the hearing, Davis opposed a
continuance. The assistant tracked down the trial counsel drinking in a local
tavern and implored him to withdraw the continuance request. Neither the
assistant or the trial counsel told Davis of the prosecutor s plan to upgrade
the charge if a continuance succeeded. Without fully advising his client of the
circumstance, the attorneys squandered an opportunity to resolve the case - by
plea or trial - on relatively favorable terms.
Jessie Lee
Wise (Executed 5-26-99)
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Jessie Lee
Wise was given the death sentence for the 1988 murder of Geraldine McDonald.
His case represents a multitude of problems. A combination of conflict of
interest and Wise s mental health issues resulted in him defending himself at a
capital murder trial. At the same time he was representing Wise, the lead
attorney was running for prosecutor. Wise felt his lawyer was disregarding his
input and suggestions. The trial lawyers filed a motion to have Wise declared
incompetent to stand trial without his permission. They based their motion on
Wise s defensive theory of the case -- which they contended was irrational --
and on a psychological examination of Wise which diagnosed him as having a
delusional disorder. As a result Wise requested to act as his own attorney at
trial, and was permitted to do so. The judge refused to permit Wise to present
available evidence suggesting another theory of the homicide.
Only after his trial did the prosecutor s office
inadvertently discover videotapes of key evidence that it had a duty to provide
the defense before trial. Wise did accept help from other lawyers at the
penalty phase, but the judge would not give counsel even one day to prepare for
the penalty hearing. The federal courts violated the Anti-terrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 requiring them to appoint at least one
attorney with three years of felony appeal experience to represent him in his
habeas corpus appeal. The federal courts retroactively applied the statute to
limit the issues he could appeal.
Bert
Hunter (Executed 6/28/00)
Bert
Hunter was convicted of the 1988 murders of Mildred Hodges and her son Richard
in Jefferson City. Although Hunter originally pled guilty and asked to be given
a death sentence, he did so at a time when he was depressed to the point of
being suicidal. A few months before the Hodgeses were killed, Hunter tried to
kill himself. The bullet he fired grazed his temple when he flinched in
uncertainty at the last possible instant. While waiting for trial he also tried
to kill himself and was placed on suicide watch. At the time of his plea the
court noted inconsistencies in his statements and the autopsy report but
accepted the guilty plea because that was Hunter s desire and wish . The court
also questioned Hunter s mental competency and ordered an evaluation.
Within a few months before he was sentenced,
Hunter asked the court to set aside his guilty plea because it was made under
duress. All the doctors who examined him concluded he was self-destructive at
the time of his plea. The trial judge refused to set aside the guilty plea and,
instead, sentenced him to death. As a result Hunter was the first person
executed in Missouri since 1976 who did not have a jury trial or the assistance
of a lawyer.
Gary Roll
(Executed 8/30/00)
Gary Roll
never denied his part in the killings in 1992 of Randy Scheper, an alleged drug
dealer, his mother, Sherry, and brother, Curtis. His trial counsel conducted no
pretrial investigation and urged his client to waive his right to be tried
before a jury and plead guilty, with false assurances he would receive a life
sentence. It was clear his attorney was not ready for trial when he did not ask
questions on voir dire, did not make an opening statement, and did not cross
examine the state s first witness.
Counsel did not seek any form of mental evaluation
and failed to present evidence to the judge that showed that Roll s drug
addiction stemmed from a botched oral surgery by military doctors in 1974. Roll
was subsequently honorably discharged with a 50 percent service disability. Two
other surgeries in VA hospitals failed to alleviate the excruciating
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pain. For
17 years Roll was prescribed various narcotic analgesics in hopes of finding
relief. In 1992 Roll sustained a serious leg injury which added to the pain. It
was then that Roll turned to street drugs to find relief. It was while under
the influence of alcohol, marijuana and LSD that Roll, who had no prior history
of crime, committed the killings.
George
Harris (Executed 9/13/00)
George
Harris was given a death sentence for killing Stanley Willoughby in the living
room of a Kansas City drug house in 1989. Due largely to the incompetence of
his trial counsel, Harris s story that he lawfully acted in self-defense
against a violent man who was physically threatening him was never effectively
told or properly presented to a jury. Trial counsel failed to obtain testimony
from disinterested witnesses identified in the police report. At least one of
the witnesses later indicated that the shooting was in self-defense after
Willoughby pulled out his gun to shoot Harris.
James
Chambers (Executed 11/15/00)
James
Chambers was convicted of killing Jerry Oestricker on May 29, 1982, outside a
lounge in Arnold after an argument in the bar. Both men had been drinking. The
crime lacked the cool deliberation and premeditation needed for a capital
sentence. A review of factually similar Missouri cases, involving tavern homicides,
have all resulted in lesser sentences. The disproportionality of this case was
highlighted by Judge Welliver of the Missouri Supreme Court in his dissent in
State v. Chambers I am unable to see any new or additional evidence that
changes the case from a barroom altercation. Under these circumstances, I
cannot impose the death penalty. I would reduce the sentence, otherwise
proportionality in Missouri is reduced [to being] totally meaningless.
Individual who was a Juvenile
at the Time of the Murder
Frederick
Lashley (Executed 7/28/93)
Frederick
Lashley was just 17 years old when he was convicted of the stabbing death of
his disabled cousin and foster mother, Janie Tracy, on April 9, 1981. Lashley
came from a physically abusive home. He began drinking heavily at the age of 10
and began abusing drugs at age 11. Lashley was not known to be violent toward
the victim or any other family member. On the day of the murder he tried PCP
(phencyclide) for the first time. PCP is known to induce psychotic behavior and
can cause its user to be dangerous. The family of Ms. Tracy did not want the
execution to take place.
END
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