Last Meals: The Phillip Workman Execution

Adapted from a post on my MaryLovesJustice Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/marylovesjustice

Phillip Workman, number 4 on this list, was probably a wrongly ‪#‎executed‬ Tennessee man https://youtu.be/GgOkgZXKAHo >>Workman TRIED to rob a Wendy's but ran when police were called. He hid underneath a car and said he saw a ‪#‎police‬ officer shoot the policeman who was killed. Both of the officers were attempting to apprehend Workman. I was told by a former Shelby County Corrections Officer, Sgt. Early Story, that the murdered policeman was hated by his coworkers after he crossed a picket line and that he died within his first week back on the street after having been temporarily detailed to work inside the jail for his own safety. Workman's supporters for retrial included the victim's daughter, who felt that Workman was innocent after hearing recantations by witnesses who claimed they had been coerced to give false testimony against Workman.

The embedded video, which is also available at the YouTube link above, is called "12 Craziest Last Meal Requests," showing what condemned men ordered for their last supper. Workman ordered a pizza to be given to a homeless person, but his request was not honored. He refused a last meal.



Workman was convicted largely because Dr. O.C. Smith, the ‪#‎Memphis‬ Shelby County medical examiner at the time, claimed the bullet trajectory showed that ONLY WORKMAN could have shot the policeman. Dr. Smith apparently tried to retract his testimony immediately before Workman's execution by kidnapping himself and strapping dynamite to his person and wrapping barbed wire around his head. Dr. Smith secured notes to his person saying "The doctor lied about bullet trajectory in the Workman trial." Dr. Smith was also the medical examiner when Larry Neal was murdered under secret arrest in the Shelby County Jail in 2003. Neal was a lifelong mentally ill heart patient and my brother. I wrote about Workman's case in the Wrongful Death of Larry Neal website http://www.wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/story/story03.html >> Dr. Smith had a history of possibly lying to assist murderous police, according to the Workman case. The medical examiner's office failed to conduct any inquest or give any information about why and how Larry Neal, a mentally ill heart patient, was held for 18 days of SECRET ARREST and killed behind bars. 

Dr. Smith was prosecuted by the feds for allegedly strapping DYNAMITE to his own person and staging a false kidnapping. The case ended in a hung jury and was not retried. This reportedly angered some U.S. Attorneys. The Memphis Flyer reported: 

"After the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms decided Smith was a suspect rather than a victim, he was indicted on federal charges. Terry Harris, who was then the U.S. attorney in Memphis, recused himself because the office had a professional relationship with the medical examiner. U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins of Little Rock came to Memphis to prosecute Smith. The trial ended in 2005 in a hung jury. Smith, who did not testify, was not retried." (Read more 

http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/republican-justice-and-memphis-oc-smith-case/Content?oid=1140392 )

Memphis authorities usually get a free pass, possibly because that is where civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in a conspiracy. Larry Neal's kidnapping and murder in Memphis Shelby County Jail has been denied investigation and his family has been denied due process of law, including responses to Freedom of Information Act requests, for over 12 years. The death of this American with disabilities was denied exposure by censorship to protect killers and due to fraud by The Cochran Firm, the Neal family's wrongful death attorney. See "Cochran Firm Fraud" http://CochranFirmFraud.blogspot.com

After Dr. Smith's antics, Workman won another hearing. Two ‪#‎Republican‬ judges came out of retirement to swing the vote against Workman in the hearing he was given after witnesses who recanted seemed to also include the State's star witness, the medical examiner. Workman was executed in 2007, and Dr. Smith is no longer the Shelby County medical examiner. I was told Dr. Smith then became an "expert witness" for America's corrupt courts. Fox News, Detroit Free Press, ABC News, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, United Nations, Randy Short, Maya Schenwar, La Mesha Irizarry, Lorenzo Komboa Ervin,THE BODY COUNT: Police Murder in Memphis, Christopher Bonds, Katherine Conner, Janet Sol, People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (Fox News, I don't know why, but ‪#‎hackers‬ continuously remove the linking capability from your name on this Facebook post.)

More wrongfully convicted people were exonerated in 2015 than in other years, including people on death row. The only way to stop wrongful executions is to eliminate the death penalty.

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This article was published in the Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee blog for our anti-dp organization. Please share it with your online networks. 

"Continue to fight this fight" ~Troy Anthony Davis

Anti-DP message by Mary Neal, director of

~Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee

~Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

~Human Rights for Prisoners March

~Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI")

MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com phone (678)531.0262 or (571)335-1741

Death Warrant for Warren Hill, Mentally Ill on GA Death Row

Warren Hill was originally sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting his girlfriend, Myra Wright, in 1986. He was subsequently sentenced to death for killing his cellmate, Joseph Handspike.

Georgia is preparing to EXECUTE the mentally ill man who "somehow" got a board of wood with long nails driven through it and beat his cellmate to death while he slept. Did the prison know how dangerous Hill was? Absolutely. He was already imprisoned for murder. And how on earth did Hill get a board and nails to make a Midieval club like the one pictured below? Hill's murder by the State on January 27, 2015, and his victim's murder, will be included in our "AIMI vs. USA" legal action before the International Court in 2015. 

If inmates can be endangered and killed by locking them in cells with murderous mentally ill people, which has happened in Georgia correctional facilities more than once, then every prisoner is at risk. Correctional officers and prison administrators who apply this lack of care are intended to escape accountability by executing the mentally ill inmates who kill their cellmates. The inmates who kill will bare the blame, not the prison which should be a "controlled environment." 

"AIMI vs. USA" will take the USA before the International Court for dereliction of its duty to protect the rights of institutionalized persons, such as Hill and his victim, Handspike. Hill should have had no opportunity to ascertain a board and nails, and his victim should not have been in the cell with a homicidal mentally ill man like Hill. 

Read about The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) of 1980, a United States federal law intended to protect the rights of people in state or local correctional facilities, nursing homes, mental health facilities and institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Wikipedia). The U.S. Justice Department totally ignores its responsibility to uphold that Act; an "act" is all it is (see the links to information about CRIPA below).

As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said over 50 years ago, "All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.'" That is still a huge problem, and no group of people anywhere on planet earth is as oppressed as Americans with mental disabilities in custody. They are regularly tortured and killed without any accountability being demanded. Some are tortured for sport and killed in grotesque Medieval ways, including death by scalding, death by roasting, death by hanging, and forcing mentally ill inmates to entertain correctional officers by engaging in gladiator fights (to the finish, in some cases). 

It is likely that Hill's mental illness was untreated before he killed Myra Wright, his first victim. Neglect likely caused both murders.

Read about Hill at "Georgia Kills Mentally Ill Inmates."
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2013/02/georgia-kills-mentally-ill-inmates.html

Happy Martin Luther King's Day 2015. Let us stand up together and demand that Americans with mental disabilities like Warren Hill be protected, moved into mental hospitals instead of jails and prisons, and that mental illness be decriminalized in the United States of America. Nobody deserves to be misused as prison commodities because of a common, treatable health condition. If the renowned human rights leader, Dr. King, were alive, we at Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI) believe decriminalizing mental illness would be one of his main objectives. Please make it one of yours. Read more about "AIMI vs. USA" at 
http://AIMI-HumanRights.blogspot.com

USDOJ: Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA)
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/cripastat.php

CRIPA at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_of_Institutionalized_Persons_Act

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Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

How can you help? Follow this blog, share this article, and listen to the George Mallinckrodt Blogtalkradio presentations taped January 11 and January 15, 2015 (links are below). Mallinckrodt exposed brutality and a murder against mentally ill inmates in his book, "Getting Away with Murder" and was fired from his position as a psychotherapist in Florida prisons as a consequence of his objections to torture. Human and civil rights of persons with mental disabilities in the United States are treated as nonexistent.

"Getting Away with Murder," by George Mallinckrodt
January 15, 9pm EST
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/humanrightsdemand/2015/01/16/getting-away-with-murder-a-george-millenckrodt-interview-part-2
January 11, 3pm EST
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/humanrightsdemand/2015/01/11/getting-away-with-murder-a-george-mallinckrodt-interview

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal? Why are we still asking that question after eleven years? Cover-ups regarding the wrongful deaths of mentally ill inmates are common and vile.

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Support the H.R. 3717 "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act." The U.S. congressional bill provides for crisis intervention team (CIT) training for police and corrections officers, assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs to stop recidivism, and other needed changes.

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This article was published in the Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee blog for our anti-dp organization. Eight(8) links are in this article. Please share it with your online networks. The article also appears in "Dog Justice for Mentally Ill" blog at 
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2015/01/warren-hill-death-warrant-issued.html

"Continue to fight this fight" ~Troy Anthony Davis

Anti-DP message by Mary Neal, director of

~Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee

~Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

~Human Rights for Prisoners March

~Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI")

MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com

phone (678)531.0262 or (571)335-1741

Rodney Reed, Innocent Death Row Inmate in TX

Georgetown, Texas – Rodney Reed is sitting on death row in Texas for a 1996 murder that he probably did not commit, and if nothing is done to stop the execution, he be killed on March 5, 2015.

FreeThoughtProject reports that even the family of the victim is now coming forward in Reed's defense, saying instead that Stacey Stites' fiance, a former cop, was likely responsible for the murder. The 19-year-old victim was engaged to Officer Jimmy Fennell when she was murdered in 1996. During that time, Fennell was under various disciplinary investigations at the department, because he was stalking and harassing women while on the job. Over the years, mountains of evidence surfaced implicating Fennell as the person who killed Stacy. Fennell is presently in prison, having been convicted of rape in 2007.

Please sign the Change.org petition to save Rodney Reed
http://chn.ge/1wPTXyL?recruiter=802110

Reed was recently denied DNA tests to prove his innocence, while the likely killer, a former police officer, is jailed for rape. Read more about the case at FreeThoughtProject.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/rapist-cop-killed-wife-death-row-crime/

Reed is innocent until proved guilty. For some reason, the system wants to kill him without definitive proof. We applaud the Campaign to End the Death Penalty for launching the petition for Reed, which presently has over 14,000 signatures. Please share it with your social networks to encourage others to help Reed. 

"Test every item handled and we can determined who did this crime, but for whatever reason, the State of Texas has decided they want to execute a man without finding out those answers," said Bryce Benjet, an attorney with The Innocence Project.
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/27481959/update-judge-denies-death-row-inmates-request-for-more-dna-testing

Stacy Stites and her survivors deserve to have the right person prosecuted and sentenced, not a convenient black man who might be innocent.

Racism lives in the USA's corrupt justice system. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals hears cases out of Texas. That court was made famous by Judge Edith Jones, who was subjected to a judicial review after numerous groups filed an ethics complaint for her reportedly racist comments. Jones reportedly believes that denying condemned people a stay of execution forces them to repent and "save their souls." 

RH Reality Check reports: Some of those comments included claims that certain “racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime” and are “prone to commit acts of violence” including more violent and “heinous” crimes and that Mexicans would prefer to be on death row in the United States than serving prison terms in their native country, according to the complaint [filed by numerous human and civil rights groups]. Jones allegedly accused defendants who raise claims of “mental retardation” of abusing the system. Jones called claims that the death penalty is racist or arbitrary a “red herring.” 

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/10/16/civil-rights-groups-appeal-dismissal-ethics-complaint-judge-edith-jones/

See more information about Judge Jones in the article, "Judge Edith Jones: Kill Inmates to Save Their Souls"
http://dmtruth.blogspot.com/2013/06/judge-edith-jones-kill-inmates-to-save.html
Paragraph space goes here. Leave it alone, stalkers.

The Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP) is a national grassroots organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment. It has active chapters and members across the United States—including California, Texas, Delaware, New York, and Chicago. To win abolition, we need to build a grassroots struggle. We believe that those who have experienced the horrors of death row first hand–death row prisoners themselves and their family members–should be at the forefront of our movement. Their experiences help to shape our strategies. - See more at: 
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/

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This article was initially published in the Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee blog for our anti-dp organization. Seven(7) links are in this article. Please share it with your online networks. Copy and paste this link.
http://dmtruth.blogspot.com/2015/01/rodney-reed-innocent-death-row-inmate.html

"Continue to fight this fight" ~Troy Anthony Davis

Anti-DP message by Mary Neal, director of

~Davis/MacPhail Truth Committee

~Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

~Human Rights for Prisoners March

~Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI")

CNN Death Row Stories Documentaries

On Sunday, March 9th, CNN will premiere its original series Death Row Stories, described by CNN as:

Death Row Stories is a series of one-hour documentaries. Each episode attempts to unravel the truth behind a different capital murder case. Executive produced by Alex Gibney and Robert Redford and narrated by Susan Sarandon, these stories call into question various beliefs surrounding America's justice system and the death penalty.

Director Alex Gibney said, “The series provides stark examples of the struggle between the powerful and the powerless.  The stakes – life or death – couldn’t be higher.”

We see this as more evidence of a change in the debate around capital punishment and a shift away from this practice. Will you help us get the word out to your networks and ask everyone you know to watch it?

NCADP staff will be watching and tweeting about the show using the hastags #deathrowstories and #90millionstrong. Please watch and tweet your comments too!

We encourage you to host a watch party either virtually or at your home. Send us a picture if you do, and we will post it!

We also encourage you to post your reflection and a summary of the episode on Facebook to share with your network. Be sure to tag us so we can share your post!

The momentum away from the death penalty is undeniable! This is not the type of thing that we would have expected to see seven years ago, but with more states taking a closer look at the practice and concluding that it is unworkable it is certainly timely.

Death Row Stories will screen every Sunday for five weeks starting this Sunday, March 9th at 9pm ET/PT. Be a part of the conversation!

Here are two other easy ways you can plug into the growing national dialogue about the flaws and failure of the death penalty:

1. Express why you are among the 90 million Americans who believe the death penalty is wrong by posting your statement to our Tumblr page if you have not done so already.
2. Contact friends and family in New Hampshire! The state House of Representatives is set to debate and vote on a death penalty repeal bill onWednesday, March 12th. Please tell people you know in New Hampshire to contact their representatives today to express their support for ending the death penalty.

We look forward to hearing from you!
Anita

Anita Grabowski
Communications Director
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Truth Emerges re Willingham Execution

WRONGFUL EXECUTION -- Cameron Todd Willingham was an innocent man who Texas executed on February 17, 2004. The Innocence Project recently uncovered evidence that Webb, the state's witness against Willingham, was promised a reduced sentence to implicate Willingham. Willingham was convicted for arson deaths of his three children by (1) faulty science and (2) Webb's testimony. Saying "DEATH to the DEATH PENALTY" is the only way to guarantee that innocent people are never executed.

Webb recanted prior to Willingham’s execution, stating that he had been forced by John Jackson, the then-district attorney, to provide false testimony in exchange for favorable treatment in the form of a reduced robbery charge in his own criminal case. Willingham’s lawyer was never told of Webb’s recantation. Willingham was murdered by Texas, and John Jackson became a judge. He has now retired.

Innocence Project reports developments in "New Evidence Emerges in Texas Wrongful Execution Case"
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/New_Evidence_Emerges_in_Texas_Wrongful_Execution_Case.php

NY Times reported that Willingham's cousin Patricia Cox said that if an exoneration does occur, the family has no plans to press for damages. “We’re not asking compensation,” she said. “We’re asking justice.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/us/evidence-of-concealed-jailhouse-deal-raises-questions-about-a-texas-execution.html

The University of Michigan Law School Innocence Clinic says most wrongful convictions are caused by:

• Eyewitness Misidentification 
• Junk Science 
• False Confessions 
• Government Misconduct 
• Lying Snitches 
• Bad Lawyering

Willingham was wrongfully convicted and executed because of junk science, government misconduct, and a lying snitch who later recanted his testimony, but the justice system was not interested in the truth. 

Other articles by this writer about Willingham's murder by Texas:

The Wrongful Execution of Cameron Todd Willingham

http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/execution-of-cameron-todd-willingham.html

Cameron Todd Willingham's Wrongful Execution - and Others

http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/cameron-todd-willinghams-wrongful.html
Also featured by "Break All Chains" blog

http://breakallchains.blogspot.com/2009/11/cameron-todd-willinghams-wrongful.html

Help Todd Willingham Rest in Peace - Clear the Name of Wrongly Executed Texan ~ Care2 News

http://www.ddb.aspca.org/news/member/513396753/1247802

Thank you to all employees and supporters of the Innocence Project who fight wrongful executions every day.

10 Things Anyone Can Do To Help Exonerate Innocent People and 

Prevent Wrongful Convictions

http://www.innocenceproject.org/fix/What-can-I-do.php

MaryLovesJustice Neal

Director of Davis-MacPhail Truth Committee

http://DMTruth.blogspot.com

MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com

Phone 678.531.0262 

The Willingham Family

Scott Panetti: Ridicule and Execution

Does the United States justice system find mental illness entertaining? Do officials over justice consider it funny to kill mentally disabled citizens? Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty shared a video exposing the trial of Scott Panetti, who was charged with murdering his in-laws on September 8, 1992. The court allowed this untreated man who suffered from severe paranoid schizophrenia to conduct his own defense wearing a cowboy outfit and be sentenced to death.

Panetti's father expressed a loss of faith in the justice system after watching his very sick son try to defend himself. He expected Judge Steven Ables to stop the trial when it was obvious how unprepared Panetti was, but Judge Ables allowed the trial to continue to the end. Perhaps Edith Jones is not the only judge on the who believes that a death sentence provides a public service by allowing an inmate to "make peace with God." See the video below and at YouTube link http://youtu.be/0WTn78SIRvc . News and viewpoints are censored regarding how America mistreats its acute mentally ill citizens.
UPDATE: The video is now at 
http://youtu.be/obBaLvWZ8HE 

December 3, 2014 update: The United Nations requests that the United States commute Panetti's sentence based on human decency and the Convention Against Torture. 
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49487

Original test resumes: Panetti's appeals have been denied since he was sentenced to execution. Some judges have disdain for defendants who are mentally ill. The Austin Chronicle reports that Justice Edith Jones, who sits on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – based in New Orleans, its jurisdiction includes Texas – made numerous offensive and biased comments during a February lecture at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, according to the complaint filed pursuant to the federal Judicial Conduct and Disability Act. She told law students and other attendees that she thought the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling outlawing the death penalty for the mentally retarded did intellectually disabled individuals a disservice, and that to create such an exemption from execution was a "slippery slope," reads the complaint.

"In describing … what Judge Jones said about these cases, I am not able to capture the complete outrage she expressed over the crimes or the disgust she evinced over the defense raised, particularly by the defendants who claimed to be mentally retarded," reads the declaration, filed with the complaint, of veteran Pennsylvania-based death penalty attorney Marc Bookman, who attended the lecture. "Judge Jones's disgust at how these defendants were 'using mental retardation' was very evident and very disconcerting," reads the complaint. Austin Chronicle Report on Judith Jones
http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/news/2013-06-04/judge-edith-jones-blacks-and-hispanics-more-violent/

An excerpt from Yahoo Voices described the Panetti trial: "Dressed in costume like one of the actors in an old Western Movie, with a big brimmed cowboy hat hanging on his shoulders by the strap, plaid shirt, bandanna, fancy cowboy boots, and spurs, Scott Panetti proceeded to defend himself, playing out the role of lawyer. The prevailing judge, Ables allowed his court to be turned into a three ring circus as jurors watched, stunned at what they were seeing and hearing, some fearing the man they watched before them."

An attorney who was called by Panetti as a witness shared his observations, stating: “The courtroom had the atmosphere of a circus. The judge just seemed to let Scott run free with his irrational questions and courtroom antics.”
http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/illnessSPanetti.cfm

Panetti's ex-wife, whose parents were killed, does not feel that Panetti should die for his crime that resulted from untreated mental illness. And obviously, nobody should defend himself in a capital murder case, especially not a paranoid schizophrenic man dressed as a cowboy. Panetti's trial was an outrageous exercise that has probably provided justice officials many laughs for over 20 years while Scott Panetti awaits the needle on death row in Texas.

Homelessness, prison and death must discontinue being America's answer to acute mental illness. Nobody deserves execution for having a health crisis.

Scotus Stayed Texas Murder of Anthony Haynes

EXCELLENT NEWS! THE TEXAS EXECUTION OF ANTHONY HAYNES WAS STAYED BY SCOTUS! Congratulate Hayes on breathing after October 18 at the following address:

ANTHONY HAYNES #999330
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351

The following anti-dp post was initially prevented at MaryLovesJustice Facebook wall 

https://www.facebook.com/marylovesjustice 

(I doubt if the link gets people to my "real" Facebook wall)

State Murder of Anthony Haynes, sponsored by the people of Texas, scheduled for Oct 18, 2012.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Preparations are underway for the planned execution Thursday of Anthony Haynes. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering Haynes' request for a stay of execution so that his case may be reviewed by the high court ... Haynes argued that he would not have received the death penalty if his attorney had represented him effectively at trial.

ALL UNREPENTANT MURDERERS WILL GO TO HELL, 

INCLUDING PEOPLE ENGAGED IN STATE-SPONSORED MURDERS.

Reggie Clemons: Innocent on Death Row

Stop the Execution of Reggie Clemons in Missouri - Act w/ Amnesty http://bit.ly/nVv99h

PETITION

In the interest of justice, I urge you to grant Reggie Clemons clemency.  Mr. Clemons was sentenced to death in St. Louis as an accomplice in the 1991 murder of two young white women, Julie and Robin Kerry.  Two other black youths were also convicted, including Marlin Gray (executed in 2005). Clemons has consistently maintained his innocence, and his case illustrates many of the flaws in the U.S. death penalty system.

While I have tremendous sympathy for the family and friends of Julie and Robin Kerry, and am mindful of the pain and grief that they have experienced, I believe capital punishment only perpetuates a harmful cycle of violence.

I am particularly troubled by the lack of physical evidence in this case, allegations of police coercion and prosecutorial misconduct, questions of inadequate legal representation and questions of race, and finally, what appears to have been a "stacked" jury.

At the time of the trial, the prosecution conceded that Clemons neither killed the victims nor planned the crime because there was no physical evidence that tied him to the crime itself or the events leading up to it. The two main witnesses were a former suspect and a co-defendant.

Clemons alleges that under the pressure of police brutality he confessed to raping one of the victims, though never to murder.  Four federal judges have agreed that the prosecutor's conduct during the trial was "abusive and boorish."  And Clemons' lawyer had a full-time job in another state during her representation of Mr. Clemons, resulting in poor preparation for the trial.

The final issue when considering the case of Mr. Clemons is that of race.  Not only were the murder victims white, but the two crucial witnesses were as well.  The three convicted defendants were black, and during the jury selection, blacks were disproportionately dismissed, resulting in an unrepresentative jury given the sizable black population of St. Louis.  The jury's flaws were also noted in 2002 by a U.S. District Court judge who ruled that Clemons' death sentence should not stand because six prospective jurors had been improperly excluded at the jury selection.  Later a high court overturned this ruling on technical grounds.

While I am sympathetic to the pain and suffering caused by this terrible crime, I feel that executing Reggie Clemons would be unfair and unjust.  It is clear that Mr. Clemons' trial was flawed in numerous regards and that serious questions persist regarding the reliability of his conviction and the proportionality of his sentence.  I hope that you will follow this recommendation and commute the death sentence of Reggie Clemons.

Sign Amnesty's petition to save Reggie Clemons at this link http://bit.ly/nVv99h

Learn more about Reggie Clemons at these websites:
Free Reggie Clemons Now  www.freereggieclemonsnow.wordpress.com
Justice for Reggie  http://www.justiceforreggie.com/
HEARING STARTS ON REGGIE CLEMONS CASE SEPTEMBER 17 http://goo.gl/HEkgU
“Judge, there was injustice during every point on Reggie’s road to death row,” Josh Levine said in opening arguments Monday.