On Wednesday, the Missouri Senate blocked an amendment to the state’s near-total abortion ban which would have allowed exceptions in cases of rape and incest. State Sen. Tracy McCreery (D) urged her fellow lawmakers to “show an ounce of compassion” for victims of sexual violence. “They’ve already survived enough trauma,” McCreery said. “They shouldn’t have to go to another state to get…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A coalition of abortion rights groups in Missouri has launched a signature drive to place a state constitutional amendment before voters, with hopes of gathering enough names to get abortion on the November ballot. After the U.S. Supreme Court upended federal abortion protections in a ruling in June of 2022, “trigger laws” banning or severely restricting abortion access took effect in several…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A coalition of abortion rights groups in Missouri has launched a signature drive to place a state constitutional amendment before voters, with hopes of gathering enough names to get abortion on the November ballot. After the U.S. Supreme Court upended federal abortion protections in a ruling in June of 2022, “trigger laws” banning or severely restricting abortion access took effect in several…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
An all-white school board in Missouri voted Thursday to remove Black History and Black Literature courses that had been taught at the Francis Howell School District since 2021. The board voted 5-2 to remove the electives which had more than 100 students enrolled in the Fall semester, according to AP News. “I am really upset by their bad decision. We will make national news with this one…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A Missouri Democrat announced this week that he is giving up a months-long run to unseat outspoken far right Republican Sen. Josh Hawley — in order to stage a primary challenge to progressive Democrat Rep. Cori Bush, citing her support of Palestinians amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Wesley Bell, prosecutor for St. Louis County, announced his decision to drop out of the Senate race on Monday…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
In a recent Tuesday statement, the gender clinic at Washington University announced its decision to cease services for transgender youth under its care. While youth already receiving care were ostensibly protected under a “grandfather clause” following Missouri’s ban on gender-affirming care, another facet of the law was previously underreported: a prolonged 15-year liability window for those same…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
On Friday, a St. Louis judge denied a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Lambda Legal, seeking to block Missouri’s ban on gender-affirming care. As of Monday, transgender youth in the state will no longer have access to gender-affirming care and transgender people who are incarcerated or on Medicaid will be forced to medically detransition.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Gov. Mike Parson violated the law when he dissolved board without a report.
Press Release 08.24.23 By Innocence Staff
Marcellus Williams. (Image: Courtesy of Marcellus Williams’ legal team)
(August 24 – Jefferson City, MO) Marcellus Williams, who faces execution in Missouri despite DNA evidence proving his innocence, has filed a civil lawsuit against Gov. Mike Parson for dissolving the board of inquiry that had been investigating his innocence claim before it could produce a report and recommendation, and against Attorney General Andrew Bailey for moving to set an execution date after the governor had illegally dissolved the board. The suit, filed in Missouri’s 19th Circuit Court, asks the court to invalidate Gov. Parson’s June 30 executive order dissolving the board and lifting Mr. Williams’ stay of execution, arguing that the governor violated Mr. Williams’ rights and the law when he dissolved the board without a report and recommendation.
In an unprecedented move earlier this summer, Gov. Parson rescinded an executive order issued by his predecessor, effectively lifting Mr. Williams’ stay of execution and terminating a board of five former judges appointed by previous Gov. Eric Greitens to examine the new DNA evidence — which no court has ever reviewed. Gov. Greitens issued the executive order pursuant to Missouri Revised Statutes section 552.070, a law passed in 1963 designed to protect innocent people from being wrongfully executed. The statute permits the governor to empanel a board of inquiry to review evidence of innocence in a death penalty case, an action taken only three times by Missouri governors since its passage. Gov. Greitens’ 2017 executive order required the board to provide him with a report and recommendation about Mr. Williams’ claims of innocence and application for clemency. The lawsuit alleges that Gov. Parsons never received such a report or recommendation from the board before he dissolved it.
“The dissolution of the board of inquiry before a report or recommendation could be issued means that, to date, no judge has ruled on the full evidence of Mr. William’s innocence,” said Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, which represents Mr. Williams. “Knowing that, the state of Missouri still seeks to execute him. That is not justice.”
“The board of inquiry statute was created so that an independent group of retired judges had an opportunity to review all the evidence in a death penalty case, without any procedural or political obstructions, to make sure an innocent man or woman is not executed. It’s a unique, fail-safe protection. By aborting the process before this distinguished group of jurists issued a report, Gov. Parson violated Mr. Williams’ due process rights under the state and federal constitutions to life and liberty,” said Barry C. Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project.
Mr. Williams has spent 24 years of his life on death row for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was stabbed 43 times in her home. Although no physical evidence or crime scene evidence connected him to the crime, his conviction primarily relied upon the testimonies of two incentivized witnesses, whose statements were inconsistent with the crime scene evidence, with their own prior statements, and with each other.
In 2016, post-conviction DNA testing conducted on the handle of the knife lodged in Ms. Gayle’s neck detected the presence of male DNA and definitively excluded Mr. Williams as the source. That evidence has been reviewed and analyzed by three renowned DNA experts, all of whom concluded that Mr. Williams is not the source of the DNA. Furthermore, Mr. Williams was excluded as the source of the hairs found near Ms. Gayle’s body and as the source of bloody footprints found inside the house near the body.
Based on this new DNA evidence, Gov. Greitens stayed Mr. Williams’ execution in 2017, and formed the board of inquiry to examine it. When Gov. Parson dissolved the board without receiving its report and recommendation about Mr. Williams’ case, he violated the statute, defied the executive order, exceeded his authority, and undermined Mr. Williams’ rights.
“There is clear and convincing evidence that Marcellus Williams did not murder Ms. Gayle. It would be a terrible tragedy for the state to execute Mr. Williams before the board of inquiry completed its commission to make a report and recommendation to the governor as to whether or not Mr. Williams should be executed,” said Charles Weiss, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, which represents Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams is represented in this filing by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (Charles Weiss), the Midwest Innocence Project (Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Rachel Wester, Blair Johnson, Leigh Ann Carroll); and the Innocence Project (Adnan Sultan, Barry Scheck, Tim Gumkowski, Hannah Freedman, and Cecily Burge).
About the Midwest Innocence Project: The Midwest Innocence Project is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to representing people convicted of crimes they did not commit in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska; supporting and empowering freed and exonerated people post-release; and changing the system to prevent wrongful convictions in the first place. The MIP is a member of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of 72 similar organizations around the world, and is a distinct and separate organization from the Innocence Project in New York. For more information, please visit www.themip.org.
About the Innocence Project: The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C.Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Its work is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism.
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The post Marcellus Williams, Facing Execution Despite DNA Evidence of His Innocence, Sues Missouri Governor and Attorney General for Dissolving Board of Inquiry Examining the Case and Moving to Set an Execution Date appeared first on Innocence Project.
This post was originally published on Innocence Project.
DNA evidence not available at the time of Mr. Williams’ trial proves his innocence, but has not been considered in court.
Death penalty
08.15.23
By Alicia Maule
Marcellus Williams.
On June 29, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson lifted the stay of 53-year-old Marcellus Williams’ execution. Mr. Williams has spent 24 years of his life on death row for a murder DNA evidence proves someone else committed. Gov. Parson terminated a board consisting of five former judges appointed to examine the case of Mr. Williams, lifting the stay instituted by then Gov. Eric Greitens minutes before Mr. Williams’ scheduled execution in 2017.
In 1998, Lishan Gayle, a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter in St. Louis, was stabbed to death 16 times in her own home.
Two years later, Mr. Williams was convicted of the first-degree murder, robbery, and burglary of Ms. Gayle. His conviction primarily relied upon the inconsistent testimonies of two incentivized witnesses, with no concrete physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. Specifically, one of the witnesses, Henry Cole, told police on June 4, 1999, 10 months after the murder, that Mr. Williams had admitted to the crime while they were both in prison.
In 2016, testing of DNA samples retrieved from the crime scene entirely excluded Mr. Williams as a contributor, contradicting the testimony-based evidence used to convict him.
Though no new execution date has been set, one could be scheduled at any time, and Mr. Williams’ life remains at risk for a crime he did not commit.
Here’s what you need to know about his case:
On Aug. 11, 1998, Dr. Daniel Picus came home from work around 8 p.m. to find his wife, Ms. Gayle, dead at the bottom of the stairs. She had been stabbed 16 times, and one of their kitchen knives was protruding from her neck.
In 2016, post-conviction DNA testing conducted on the handle of that knife detected the presence of male DNA and excluded Mr. Williams as the source.
In 2017, then Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens stayed Mr. Williams’ execution based on the DNA results from the knife handle. However, no court has been willing to hear this evidence, which has been reviewed and analyzed by three renowned DNA experts who have all concluded that Mr. Williams is not the source of the DNA on the knife handle.
The case against Mr. Williams relied heavily on testimony from two people: Mr. Cole, a prison informant, and Mr. Williams’ ex-girlfriend, Laura Asaro. However, the credibility of both these testimonies has significant grounds for skepticism.
Mr. Cole, known for his dishonesty by his family members, had a potential motive to fabricate or exaggerate his claim that Mr. Williams confessed to him while they were both incarcerated. Mr. Cole initially refused to participate as a witness in Ms. Gayle’s case until he was promised payment and then made it clear in the 2001 deposition that he would not have come forward if it hadn’t been for the $5,000 he was given by prosecutors. Notably, several details in his testimony were strikingly similar to the information that had been published in newspapers about the murder, suggesting he may have been fed this information directly or indirectly.
Prior to the deposition, Mr. Cole had pled guilty in 1996 to armed robbery of a bank and was sentenced to four years of probation with 10 years of prison suspended. Although he violated parole six times, the court never imposed the suspended prison sentence on him.
Ms. Asaro, too, had a history of deception and had faced solicitation charges when police initially approached her about the case in Nov. 1999.
She had worked with the police before and had testified against Mr. Williams in a previous trial. She even lied under oath in her recorded deposition regarding her arrest history. At some stage, police had considered charging her as an accomplice in the crime. Ms. Asaro also mentioned to her neighbor that she was receiving money for her testimony against Mr. Williams.
Further adding to the doubt, the narratives from Mr. Cole and Ms. Asaro were significantly different and didn’t match the crime scene evidence. For example, Ms. Asaro testified that Mr. Williams had scratch marks on him, but there was no foreign DNA present underneath Ms. Gayle’s fingernails.
The only evidence connecting Mr. Williams to Ms. Gayle’s murder was the testimony of Mr. Cole and Ms. Asaro. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, incentivized witness testimony has contributed to 14% of death penalty cases that later led to a DNA exoneration. The two incentivized witnesses in this case were motivated by the reward money and favorable treatment in their own criminal cases.
Even though this murder occurred in the middle of the day and neighbors were out and about, no one saw Mr. Williams anywhere near Ms. Gayle’s house. Police found bloody shoe prints at the scene and concluded that they did not belong to Mr. Williams. They also collected and tested biological evidence from the scene and determined that none of this biological evidence belonged to Mr. Williams.
In August 2017, then-governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens, intervened just hours before Mr. Williams’ scheduled execution, signing an executive order postponing the date. This was not the first time Mr. Williams’ execution had been put on hold.
Gov. Greitens assembled a board of inquiry to thoroughly investigate the case and review all the evidence that had been presented at the trial. The board was also tasked with reviewing newly found DNA evidence and any other pertinent evidence to which the jury may not have had access. The order granted the board the authority to demand testimony and information, and required it to keep its proceedings and all collected information confidential. The executive order clarified that the execution would be postponed until the governor had decided whether Mr. Williams should be granted mercy, based on the board’s findings.
However, it is unclear if any report has ever been issued. Mr. William’s legal team never received a report, and Governor Parson dissolved the board without giving any indication that he had received a recommendation, and if so, what it was.
Mr. Williams’ case is riddled with unreliable incentivized testimonies and a complete absence of physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. The lack of consideration by any court of the exculpatory DNA evidence, which indisputably excluded Mr. Williams as a contributor, calls into question the validity of his conviction. Despite the evidence pointing to his innocence, Mr. Williams remains on death row more than two decades after his initial arrest.
With the weight of this new evidence and the unreliability of the witnesses who testified against Mr. Williams, his conviction must be reevaluated to ensure that justice is truly served. His legal team, comprised of dedicated professionals from the Innocence Project, Midwest Innocence Project, and Bryan Cave, and attorneys Larry Komp and Kent Gipson, continues to fight to stop his execution and for his exoneration, hoping that justice will eventually prevail.
_______________________________________________________________________
never wrote a poem about my father,
although near, he wasn’t around so why bother,
poppa was a true rolling stone,
maybe the vietnam war cut too deeply and distorted his view of his own,
so forgiving is my heart i have forgotten much,
-but clearly remember a beating as our first embrace
our first touch,
some may diagnose it:
dissociative experience due to me not viewing this bonding as traumatic,
even the use of “bonding” to many will be enigmatic,
now behold-
here is my father the first superhero type,
never knew at the time he would just be a stereotype,
still my heart keeps to forgiveness because i can see pass the world’s flesh,
no tears were shed growing up due to being born with no regrets,
first born…
i am here adding to his malfunction,
i can only remember a yellow dump truck,
a bomb pop,
and a croquet set without instructions,
but when i say: “he’s a master carpenter” i feel a sense of his worth,
then i realize i was never taught such-
abandonment attempts to surface along with shame and hurt,
these are just illusions, deceptions and whispers,
believe me devils are real i can hear the hissing-
but i ignore them no doubt when they spew their fiction,
…alcohol addiction, a player in his game,
how can one be cured from a disease that eases pain?
writing a poem about my father brought up feelings i never knew i had,
growing up i never thought of him,
-so i felt nothing…
and even now it’s hard to consider it sad,
now come on and tell me that you understand-
how kryptonite can be one’s children so he forego that part of being a man,
the truth is that i know that many can relate,
not so the rectification of my soul so i refuse bitterness and i reject hate,
therefore he still deserves respect and kindness as he is the parent,
a divinely prescribed order shunned by many but for my heart so necessary and apparent
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The post Who Is Marcellus Williams: Man Facing Execution in Missouri Despite DNA Evidence Supporting Innocence appeared first on Innocence Project.
A Missouri state judge has ruled that efforts by state Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) to require the state auditor to include absurdly high fiscal estimates for a ballot initiative on abortion rights were an unconstitutional overreach by him and his office. By law, initiatives that could alter the state constitution must include a fiscal note to let voters know the possible impact they could…
When the Supreme Court’s decision undoing Roe v. Wade came down in June, anti-abortion groups were jubilant – but far from satisfied. Many in the movement have a new target: hormonal birth control. It seems contradictory; doesn’t preventing unwanted pregnancies also prevent abortions? But anti-abortion groups don’t see it that way. They claim that hormonal contraceptives like IUDs and the pill can actually cause abortions.
One prominent group making this claim is Students for Life of America, whose president has said she wants contraceptives like IUDs and birth control pills to be illegal. The fast-growing group has built a social media campaign spreading the false idea that hormonal birth control is an abortifacient. Reveal’s Amy Mostafa teams up with UC Berkeley journalism and law students to dig into the world of young anti-abortion influencers and how medical misinformation gains traction on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, with far-reaching consequences.
Tens of millions of Americans use hormonal contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and regulate their health. And many have well-founded complaints about side effects, from nausea to depression – not to mention well-justified anger about how the medical establishment often pooh-poohs those concerns. Anti-abortion and religious activists have jumped into the fray, urging people to reject hormonal birth control as “toxic” and promoting non-hormonal “fertility awareness” methods – a movement they’re trying to rebrand as “green sex.” Mother Jones Senior Editor Kiera Butler explains how secular wellness influencers such as Jolene Brighten, who sells a $300 birth control “hormone reset,” are having their messages adopted by anti-abortion influencers, many of them with deep ties to Catholic institutions.
The end of Roe triggered a Missouri law that immediately banned almost all abortions. Many were shocked when a major health care provider in the state announced it would also no longer offer emergency contraception pills – Plan B – because of a false belief that it could cause an abortion. While the health system soon reversed its policy, it wasn’t the first time Missouri policymakers have been roiled by the myth that emergency contraception can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting and cause an abortion. Reveal senior reporter and producer Katharine Mieszkowski tracks how lawmakers in the state have been confronting this misinformation campaign and looks to the future of how conservatives are aiming to use birth control as their new wedge issue.
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This post was originally published on Reveal.
On March 31, the Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri filed a lawsuit against the state’s attorney general to block his requests to access HIPAA-protected health information regarding the clinic’s transgender patients. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had sent the clinic a civil investigative demand containing over 50 separate requests. In the lawsuit…
Missouri’s Republican-led House of Representatives has given initial approval to a state budget that would strip libraries of state funding in what appears to be retaliation for a lawsuit filed by librarians seeking to overturn a law expanding book bans in schools. Rep. Cody Smith (R-Carthage), chair of the House Budget Committee, proposed eliminating all funding for public libraries in the state…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Sandra “Sandy” Hemme has spent more than four decades in prison for a crime that evidence supports she did not commit, making her the longest-known wrongly incarcerated woman in the U.S.
Although Ms. Hemme, now 63, has spent the majority of her life wrongfully imprisoned, she has never given up hope that her name would one day be cleared.
Ms. Hemme was wrongly convicted for the 1980 murder of Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri, after police exploited her mental illness and coerced her into making false statements while she was sedated and receiving treatment for hallucinatory episodes.
In late February 2023, Ms. Hemme’s attorneys filed a petition for habeas relief in the 43rd Circuit Court of Livingston County based on compelling new evidence of her innocence. This new evidence was withheld by the State for decades and pointed to a police officer as the person who committed the crime.
Here are key facts you should know about her case:
1. Ms. Hemme, who had no connection to the victim, was a psychiatric patient receiving treatment when she was targeted by police. At the time of Ms. Jeschke’s death, Ms. Hemme, then 20, was a patient at St. Joseph’s State Hospital receiving treatment for auditory hallucinations, derealization, and drug misuse. Ms. Hemme had spent the majority of her life starting at age 12 in inpatient psychiatric treatment.
2. Ms. Hemme was repeatedly interviewed by police under extremely coercive circumstances. Police conducted hours-long interviews with Ms. Hemme while she was in the hospital. At some points, she was so heavily medicated that she was unable to even hold her head up and was restrained and strapped to a chair. Over the course of these coercive interrogations, Ms. Hemme’s statements conflicted with the known facts of the crime and were internally inconsistent. More than 10% of exonerated people were wrongly convicted in cases involving false confessions.
Sandra Hemme (center) with her sister and mother. (Image: Courtesy of the Hemme family)
3. Ms. Hemme’s lawyer presented no witnesses at her trial, which lasted just one day. The jury never heard about the profoundly coercive circumstances under which police obtained her statements. Those statements were the only “evidence” against her at trial.
4. The jury also never heard about the crime scene evidence that supported Ms. Hemme’s innocence. Ms. Hemme was excluded as a source of all the hairs and fingerprints taken from the crime scene. There was no physical, forensic, or eyewitness evidence that linked her to the victim or the crime scene.
5. Evidence pointed to a St. Joseph police officer as a suspect in Ms. Jeschke’s killing. Michael Holman, a St. Joseph police officer, admitted to being near Ms. Jeschke’s home at the time of the murder, and his white pickup truck was parked near the scene. Officer Holman had also attempted to use Ms. Jeschke’s credit card the day after her murder.
6. Police hid evidence that implicated Officer Holman as the person who actually killed Ms. Jeschke. Ms. Jeschke’s uniquely designed wishbone earrings — identified by her father, who had gifted them to her — were found in Officer Holman’s possession, along with jewelry stolen during another home burglary. Failing to turn over favorable evidence to the accused person is known as a Brady violation.
7. Witnesses could not corroborate Officer Holman’s alibi. Officer Holman claimed he was at a motel adjacent to the victim’s home during the time of the murder with a woman named Mary. However, when asked by police he refused to give details about Mary or the motel room they both stayed in. All three witnesses from the motel and attached gas station told police they did not remember seeing Officer Holman or Mary that day.
8. This isn’t the first time the St. Joseph police wrongfully targeted and convicted a person with a mental health illness or disability that made them uniquely vulnerable to falsely confessing. In 1979, 24-year-old Melvin Lee Reynolds, who also spent time at St. Joseph’s State Hospital, was convicted of the 1978 murder of a 4-year-old boy. Many of the same officers who worked on Ms. Hemme’s case also worked on Mr. Reynolds’ case. And much like in Ms. Hemme’s case, officers obtained an alleged confession — a statement that did not align with the known facts of the crime — from Mr. Reynolds after interrogating him repeatedly. Four years later, Mr. Reynolds was exonerated.
Ms. Hemme is represented by Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Jane Pucher, Staff Attorney Andrew Lee, and Post-Conviction Litigation Fellow Natalie Baker. She is also represented by Missouri-based attorney Sean O’Brien.
The post 8 Facts About Sandra Hemme’s Case You Need to Know appeared first on Innocence Project.
This post was originally published on Innocence Project.
In October 2022, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft issued a draft of a proposed state regulatory rule that would eliminate state funding to libraries that failed to comply with a list of requirements meant to restrict access to “age-inappropriate” materials that might fall into the hands of children. Among its restrictions, the proposal would require libraries to develop processes for…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) announced on Monday that his office would be filing harsh new restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender kids and teens in the state. The restrictions, which as of Wednesday morning have not yet been formally adopted, directly contradict guidance from medical experts and health care organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
A government watchdog group filed a complaint against the Department of Justice (DOJ) this week in an attempt to obtain records regarding far right politicians blocking federal election monitors in certain polling places during the 2022 election. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is suing over the DOJ’s failure to turn over records of communications between federal…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Originally published by The 19th. Lawmakers in at least eight states used the last two months of 2022 to prefile anti-transgender bills ahead of state legislative sessions convening this month — setting up another year of statehouse battles over trans rights, while targeting health care for trans adults in new ways. Most states moving early on anti-trans bills focused on banning gender-affirming…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Two Democratic members of Congress are urging Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) to stop the execution of Amber McLaughlin, who the state is scheduled to kill next week, citing the “moral depravity” of the death penalty. In their letter to Parson, Missouri Representatives Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver highlighted that McLaughlin was sentenced to death through a unilateral decision by a judge due to a…
Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri sent a letter Tuesday urging their home state’s Republican governor to prevent the execution of 49-year-old Amber McLaughlin and commute her sentence, pointing to the “horrific abuse and neglect” she has experienced over the course of her life.
McLaughlin was convicted in 2006 of raping and killing an ex-girlfriend, Beverly Guenther. After the jury failed to reach a decision on whether McLaughlin should face death or life in prison without parole, the trial judge exploited a legal loophole and unilaterally imposed a death sentence—a move that has drawn criticism from former Missouri judges.
If the January 3, 2023 execution goes ahead as planned, McLaughlin would be the first openly trans woman to be executed in the United States.
In their letter, Bush and Cleaver noted that McLaughlin “faced a traumatic childhood and mental health issues throughout her life.”
“Court records indicate her adoptive father would frequently strike her with paddles and a nightstick, and even tase her. Alongside this horrendous abuse, she was also silently struggling with her identity, grappling with what we now understand is gender dysphoria,” the lawmakers wrote. “The abuse, coupled with the persistent mental turmoil surrounding her identity, led to mild neurological brain damage and multiple suicide attempts both as a child and as an adult.”
“Yet at the sentencing phase of Ms. McLaughlin’s trial, the jury never heard crucial mental health evidence because her lawyers failed to present it. A psychiatrist was set to testify and provide expert insight into Ms. McLaughlin’s mental health at the time of the offense before her lawyers decided not to call him as a witness,” Bush and Cleaver continued. “The lawyers had previously told the jury that this expert testimony would be a critical component in their decision, but the testimony was withheld and the jury deliberated without highly relevant information.”
Bush made clear on social media that her effort to prevent McLaughlin’s execution stems from her principled opposition to the death penalty, which she described as “cruel, barbaric, and inhumane.”
\u201cMissouri plans to execute Amber McLaughlin next week. The death penalty is cruel, barbaric, and inhumane.\n\n@RepCleaver and I are urging @GovParsonMO to grant #ClemencyForAmber.\u201d— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@Congresswoman Cori Bush) 1672166324
Earlier this month, McLaughlin’s lawyers filed a clemency petition urging Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to intervene and stop the planned execution, laying out in detail the abuse she faced as a child.
“McLaughlin developed in a womb poisoned by alcohol and she has borne the lifetime effects of fetal alcohol exposure,” the petition reads. “This prenatal assault signaled the start of a path of trauma and neglect that would become the rule for McLaughlin’s life. McLaughlin faced an environment with parents ill-equipped to act as caregivers. Trauma, neglect, and abuse at the hands of her parents occurred from birth—until she was abandoned by her mother and placed into the foster care system. At one placement, McLaughlin had feces thrust into her face. The foster care placement was so bad, McLaughlin wanted to return to an abusive mother who neglected her.”
The petition argues McLaughlin’s execution should be called off for a number of “compelling reasons,” including the fact that “executive clemency will not disturb a jury verdict imposing the death penalty because the jury did not vote to impose the death penalty.”
“Second, McLaughlin consistently and genuinely expressed remorse for the death of Ms. Beverly Guenther. She remains tormented by memories of her death,” the petition states. “Third, McLaughlin endured extensive childhood trauma at the hands of her biological, foster, and adoptive parents, abuse resulting in brain damage even before McLaughlin was born. Those with a moral duty to protect her wantonly inflicted this childhood abuse.”
A spokesperson for Parson told NBC News earlier this month that the governor is reviewing the clemency request.
The United States, which recently voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the death penalty, had the most botched executions in its history in 2022, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
“Seven of the 20 execution attempts were visibly problematic—an astonishing 35%—as a result of executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves,” the organization noted in its year-end report. “On July 28, 2022, executioners in Alabama took three hours to set an IV line before putting Joe James Jr. to death, the longest botched lethal injection execution in U.S. history.”
Bush has urged President Joe Biden to grant clemency to all federal death row inmates as a step toward ending capital punishment nationwide. Biden, who says he is personally opposed to the death penalty, has yet to heed Bush’s call.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams.
Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri sent a letter Tuesday urging their home state’s Republican governor to prevent the execution of 49-year-old Amber McLaughlin and commute her sentence, pointing to the “horrific abuse and neglect” she has experienced over the course of her life.
McLaughlin was convicted in 2006 of raping and killing an ex-girlfriend, Beverly Guenther. After the jury failed to reach a decision on whether McLaughlin should face death or life in prison without parole, the trial judge exploited a legal loophole and unilaterally imposed a death sentence—a move that has drawn criticism from former Missouri judges.
If the January 3, 2023 execution goes ahead as planned, McLaughlin would be the first openly trans woman to be executed in the United States.
In their letter, Bush and Cleaver noted that McLaughlin “faced a traumatic childhood and mental health issues throughout her life.”
“Court records indicate her adoptive father would frequently strike her with paddles and a nightstick, and even tase her. Alongside this horrendous abuse, she was also silently struggling with her identity, grappling with what we now understand is gender dysphoria,” the lawmakers wrote. “The abuse, coupled with the persistent mental turmoil surrounding her identity, led to mild neurological brain damage and multiple suicide attempts both as a child and as an adult.”
“Yet at the sentencing phase of Ms. McLaughlin’s trial, the jury never heard crucial mental health evidence because her lawyers failed to present it. A psychiatrist was set to testify and provide expert insight into Ms. McLaughlin’s mental health at the time of the offense before her lawyers decided not to call him as a witness,” Bush and Cleaver continued. “The lawyers had previously told the jury that this expert testimony would be a critical component in their decision, but the testimony was withheld and the jury deliberated without highly relevant information.”
Bush made clear on social media that her effort to prevent McLaughlin’s execution stems from her principled opposition to the death penalty, which she described as “cruel, barbaric, and inhumane.”
\u201cMissouri plans to execute Amber McLaughlin next week. The death penalty is cruel, barbaric, and inhumane.\n\n@RepCleaver and I are urging @GovParsonMO to grant #ClemencyForAmber.\u201d— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@Congresswoman Cori Bush) 1672166324
Earlier this month, McLaughlin’s lawyers filed a clemency petition urging Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to intervene and stop the planned execution, laying out in detail the abuse she faced as a child.
“McLaughlin developed in a womb poisoned by alcohol and she has borne the lifetime effects of fetal alcohol exposure,” the petition reads. “This prenatal assault signaled the start of a path of trauma and neglect that would become the rule for McLaughlin’s life. McLaughlin faced an environment with parents ill-equipped to act as caregivers. Trauma, neglect, and abuse at the hands of her parents occurred from birth—until she was abandoned by her mother and placed into the foster care system. At one placement, McLaughlin had feces thrust into her face. The foster care placement was so bad, McLaughlin wanted to return to an abusive mother who neglected her.”
The petition argues McLaughlin’s execution should be called off for a number of “compelling reasons,” including the fact that “executive clemency will not disturb a jury verdict imposing the death penalty because the jury did not vote to impose the death penalty.”
“Second, McLaughlin consistently and genuinely expressed remorse for the death of Ms. Beverly Guenther. She remains tormented by memories of her death,” the petition states. “Third, McLaughlin endured extensive childhood trauma at the hands of her biological, foster, and adoptive parents, abuse resulting in brain damage even before McLaughlin was born. Those with a moral duty to protect her wantonly inflicted this childhood abuse.”
A spokesperson for Parson told NBC News earlier this month that the governor is reviewing the clemency request.
The United States, which recently voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the death penalty, had the most botched executions in its history in 2022, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
“Seven of the 20 execution attempts were visibly problematic—an astonishing 35%—as a result of executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves,” the organization noted in its year-end report. “On July 28, 2022, executioners in Alabama took three hours to set an IV line before putting Joe James Jr. to death, the longest botched lethal injection execution in U.S. history.”
Bush has urged President Joe Biden to grant clemency to all federal death row inmates as a step toward ending capital punishment nationwide. Biden, who says he is personally opposed to the death penalty, has yet to heed Bush’s call.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams.
Pressure is growing for Missouri to stop the execution of Kevin Johnson set for Tuesday. At a hearing Monday before Missouri’s Supreme Court, a special prosecutor will request a stay in order to fully investigate how the case was tainted by racism. Meanwhile, Johnson’s 19-year-old daughter has been barred from witnessing his lethal injection because she is under 21. “We understand that the death penalty does not solve anything,” says Michelle Smith, co-director of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, who says Johnson is being “punished more severely” because of his race. Lawmakers are also urging Missouri’s governor to grant Johnson clemency.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we turn now to Missouri, where there’s growing pressure to stop the execution of Kevin Johnson set to take place Tuesday. Johnson was sentenced to die for the 2005 murder of Kirkwood police officer William McEntee. During his incarceration, Johnson stayed in close contact with his family, has been a nurturing son, father and, more recently, grandfather. This is Kevin Johnson speaking about his close relationship with his daughter Khorry Ramey during an interview on Missouri’s death row with his legal team.
KEVIN JOHNSON: When I was 17, my daughter Khorry was born. And I didn’t have anything, you know, no money, no real way — place to live. I was in a group home. But I just knew I wanted to be her dad and stuff. So, you know, I felt kind of like an obligation to do for her just like I had for them, that same kind of — and she immediately became my priority. Her mother, Dana, Dana was younger. Dana was 14. Neither one of us had anything, so…
In September 2007, Dana, Khorry’s mother, was murdered. She was 18 years old, and Khorry was 4 years old. And I remember when I got to have the contact visit in the county jail, I remember the first thing out of her mouth was like, “My mama dead.” She said, “She had Kool-Aid coming out of her head.” And I think that was like the hardest part to cope with, you know, being a protective person and not being able to do anything. You know, that’s when I felt a true obligation to her, because I was her only parent, you know, because that’s my goal, to be the best father I can be.
And so, I had some communication with other people here, who told me, like, “This is what you need to do. You need to communicate with her as much as possible.” And I did that. And I try to find people in the freer world, the free world, to try to, you know, be of an influence in her life, as well. Being in prison, I still try to do everything I can for her.
AMY GOODMAN: Kevin Johnson, speaking from Missouri death row. He’s set to die Tuesday. He was 19 years old at the time of his crime. Now his 19-year-old daughter Khorry filed a lawsuit, with the help of the ACLU, in order to witness his execution, even though the minimum age for witnesses in Missouri is 21. Khorry spoke about her relationship with her father in an interview with his legal team.
KHORRY RAMEY: He’s like a normal parent who wants the kid to succeed. Probably once or twice a week I talk to my dad. Yeah, he always tells me to do my best, and just regular stuff that, like, fathers and daughters talk about, just what’s going on in my life, with how he’s feeling, how I’m feeling, what steps am I taking to do more in my life.
My dad was very excited when I graduated, especially since I graduated early. And even though he’s been away in prison, he has been more supportive in my life than most of my friends’ fathers that are out in the regular world living and have their freedom. He tries to send me stuff like scholarships or, like, people who I can get in contact with to help me further my career in the nursing field that I want to do. And he’s just — he’s always been there. So, he’s definitely — he does way more than what most people would feel like they would be able to do behind bars. …
It’s hard, because I know that if it does happen, he’s not going to be here. He’s not going to be here to watch me grow and continue to make him happy. He’s not going to be able to see me be a better parent than what he was able to be and what my mom wasn’t able to be.
AMY GOODMAN: Last week, a federal judge denied Khorry Ramey’s request to witness her father Kevin Johnson’s execution Tuesday since she’s under the state’s age threshold of 21, saying it could cause emotional harm but did not violate her constitutional rights. She responded briefly in an emotional press conference.
KHORRY RAMEY: My name is Khorry Ramey. I’m 19 years old. I am a new mom to my new boy. And I’m not going to read [inaudible].
AMY GOODMAN: As the case draws international attention, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran an editorial headlined “Upcoming execution shows the inherent indefensibility of capital punishment.” Kevin Johnson’s past teachers have also joined protests calling to commute his death sentence to life in prison.
This comes as the Missouri Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today from Kevin Johnson’s lawyers for a stay of execution based on racial discrimination in his prosecution and conviction and death sentence. Among those who support the claim is a special prosecutor who was appointed by the St. Louis County’s prosecuting attorney and found that, quote, “purposeful racial discrimination infected the process.” This is Tony Rothert with the ACLU of Missouri.
ANTHONY ROTHERT: This is a case where it’s the prosecutor asking to stop the execution. I’ve been doing this work for a long, long time, and I’ve never had a case where the prosecutor asked to stop the execution.
AMY GOODMAN: Missouri Governor Mike Parson could also grant Kevin Johnson clemency. If Missouri executes him, it would be the fifth execution by a state in November, making it the busiest month of 2022 for capital punishment in the United States.
For more, we go to St. Louis to speak with Michelle Smith, co-director of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Michelle. Just bring us up to date on what we should understand in this case and the agony of Khorry, the 19-year-old daughter, who wants to witness her father’s execution, but the state says, no, she has to be 21, only one of — what? — two states in the country who have this rule.
MICHELLE SMITH: Thank you. Thank you for having me, Amy.
And, yes, this is — every step of this has been an injustice and more pain and harm to Khorry. And she is an innocent person in this entire situation. And she is, honestly, just trying to be there for her father and, you know, have those last moments. And even people say, “Why would she want to be there?” I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want to be, you know, near their parent when they pass away, right? And this situation is a little different, but it’s not so different, because Kevin is scheduled to be executed tomorrow, and his daughter would like to be as close by his side as she possibly can. So, the fact the court is saying that she’s not old enough and actually say — the law says she’s not mature enough at 19 to do so, again, is more injustice that is heaped upon her life.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about the whole issue of racism and the editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It was headlined, as I said before, “Upcoming execution shows the inherent indefensibility of capital punishment.” It read in part, “Unlike too many other Black defendants, Johnson didn’t face an all-white jury, but race was a factor in his trials. In the first, when the judge said he intended to ensure a racial mix in the jury, the prosecutor derided that as ‘silly’ and asked, ‘Why am I being penalized?’ — implying that more Black jurors would make a conviction less likely. Indeed, the six Black and six white jurors couldn’t agree on a first-degree murder verdict. Johnson was later convicted by a second jury, which had just three Black members.” This whole issue of racism infecting the trial?
MICHELLE SMITH: I will say that racism, discrimination, prejudice are embedded in every institution in this nation. And that, of course, shows itself in the court system.
Our prosecutor, who is our past prosecutor — he is no longer in that office — but he was known as the “king of the Batson.” And Batson is a case where a Black man some years ago sued because there was an all-white jury in his case, and he felt like that was discriminatory because it was not a jury of his peers. And so, the Supreme Court established that, you know, a prosecutor purposely making sure that Black jurors were not on a jury was unconstitutional. However, prosecutors still did it. And our former prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, he was actually known in legal circles as “king of the Batson,” meaning he disregarded the fact that the Supreme Court had deemed this unconstitutional. He was going to do what he could to get the verdict that he wanted. And, you know, all these cases with Black men were three-and-a-half times more likely to get capital punishment than white people. And so, he took it upon himself to make sure that racism, discrimination and all of the ills of our society were well embedded in his prosecutorial practices.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about Eric Schmitt, the Missouri attorney general, who’s about to become U.S. senator, Trump-supporting U.S. senator? Right before Trump left, people may remember, there was an execution spree in the United States.
MICHELLE SMITH: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about this being the ending of Eric Schmitt’s attorney general career.
MICHELLE SMITH: You know, to be honest, I believe that Eric Schmitt is trying to recreate, reenact and follow in the footsteps of Donald Trump and Bill Barr, because, like you said, there was an execution spree two years ago on their way out, on Trump and Barr’s way out, and they killed 13 people. And Eric Schmitt, several months ago, you know, he started running for the U.S. Senate, and he decided — you know, to me, that’s what it felt like, at least. He decided he’s going to do his own execution spree in Missouri. And so he has asked for five execution dates. Three of them have been scheduled, and two more are pending. And this is unprecedented. Normally in our state, there is one execution scheduled a year, which, of course, is one too many. But to have the prosecutor ask for five execution dates within a span of months, and currently we have three of them scheduled, I definitely feel like Eric Schmitt is trying to follow in those footsteps and establish a pattern of executions on his way out, because he did win the Senate race, and he will be the next U.S. senator from Missouri.
AMY GOODMAN: The Missouri Congressmembers Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver sent a letter to the Missouri Governor Mike Parson urging him to halt the execution of Johnson by granting clemency, saying, quote, “Mr. Johnson’s cruel execution will not solve any of the systemic problems facing Missourians and people all across America, including the scourge of gun violence. It will simply destroy yet another family and community while using the concepts of fairness and justice as a cynical pretext. … You have it in your power to save a life by granting clemency. We urge you to use it,” said the two congressmembers to the governor. Your final comments, Michelle Smith?
MICHELLE SMITH: Well, I will say first that a lot of times people don’t understand what clemency means. Clemency does not mean letting Kevin out of prison. Clemency means the same as other people who have killed people, and also killed policemen, to give them a life-in-prison sentence.
And that is what we’re asking in Kevin’s case, because there are other people who have killed policemen, including several years ago a white youth killed a policeman and he has a life sentence, and we’re asking for the same treatment. That’s what we mean by equity and fairness, not be punished more severely because you are Black. And so, in this particular case, Kevin definitely is being punished more severely, and so we are asking Governor Parson for clemency to switch Kevin’s sentence from a death sentence to life in prison, where he can at least still visit and talk to his daughter, you know, which she values very much.
And we definitely appreciate Congresswoman Bush and Congressman Cleaver for their letter. And we understand that the death penalty does not solve anything. The family of Mr. McEntee — and we do understand that they are grieving and having grieving — they’re going to be grieving the next day. This is not something that fixes anything, that solves anything, that stops anything. It definitely instills more trauma and more pain in the families, including Kevin’s own family.
AMY GOODMAN: Michelle Smith, we want to thank you for being with us, co-director of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, calling for a stay of execution for Kevin Johnson and supporting his daughter Khorry Ramey. He is scheduled to die on Tuesday.
Coming up, climate activists in occupied Western Sahara accuse Morocco of greenwashing. And we’ll hear about the Spanish Film Academy giving its social justice award to the Western Sahara International Film Festival and its film school. Back in 30 seconds.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The United States promotes itself as being the “leader of the free world.” Yet, its legal apparatus and carceral systems have built a bloodthirsty, parasitical machine obsessed with domination, captivity and torture — under the guise of justice. This country considers itself “civilized,” yet the death penalty is legal in 27 states. Like Nazi euthanasia programs that executed prisoners deemed “unworthy of life,” the contemporary U.S. makes similar determinations with varied means across states, including lethal injections, the electric chair and firing squads (the last firing squad execution was that of Ronnie Lee Gardner in Utah in 2010).
The state of Missouri plans to execute Kevin “KJ” Johnson, a 37-year-old father and grandfather, on November 29 for shooting and killing police officer William McEntee in 2005. At the time, Johnson was 19 years old and in psychological distress after watching his 12-year-old brother collapse, and die, during a police house search. Johnson grew up under impoverished and traumatic conditions of child neglect and child abuse. His advocates assert that racist prosecutorial conduct and ineffective counsel impacted his defense, and that court-appointed attorneys failed to present mitigating evidence to the jury. The hung jury in Johnson’s first trial rejected the first-degree murder charge. In his second trial, by an all-white jury after the prosecutor eliminated potential Black jurors, he was sentenced to death for killing a white police officer.
Capital punishment is traumatic not only for the accused, but also for family, friends and supporters. We should reject the backwards logic that putting an expiration date on an individual’s life will somehow make this militarized and violent nation a safer place to live.
Below we are sharing a streamlined and edited adaptation from “Live from Death Row: Kevin Johnson,” an FTP Movement interview that we conducted with Johnson on November 7, 2022.
Kalonji Changa: Kevin Johnson, how did you come up in St. Louis County, Missouri?
Kevin Johnson: I liked games and coaching sports, all this stuff with the average of the urban neighborhood bring all my siblings together and some unfortunate things. I had a kid at a young age and [I had] my little brothers.
Changa: You had a child at an early age [17] and today your child is how old?
Johnson: My daughter is 19 now. She has a five-month-old son.
Changa: Congratulations on that and your grandson. You have shared that you grew up with a mother addicted to drugs and in severe poverty, and food insecurity.
Johnson: Yes, you know the drug situation. My father, like many of us, also ran into similar situations and was dealing with incarceration.
Changa: We’re pretty sure that that impacted you; and you were separated from your siblings for a time?
Johnson: Growing up … you want your dad to be present and do stuff; he should be your friend, [protect you]. It was frustrating [and] stressful not having them there. I have to do what I have to do to survive.
Joy James: Kevin, news articles mention that your teachers and your principal stayed in touch with you during your nearly 20 years of incarceration, and that they remain supportive. Some have said that they wished they had better recognized [the poverty, hunger, neglect, child abuse, foster care] you suffered as a child. How were you able to make connections to community and school for people to see your value?
Johnson: Anytime I was at school, you know, playing with other kids, learning stuff [that is the way that] I [got] energy and liked school. I came late to the interview today because my first-grade teacher was visiting.
Changa: You must have made a serious impact on that teacher. You’re locked up and facing the charges that you have and you have a teacher from 31 years ago coming to visit. That says a lot about your character. We wanted to hear your voice … and learn about your brother, Bam-Bam, who died the day you shot the police officer.
Johnson: He had some struggles in life; he had a bad heart. I’ve this desire to protect him. I didn’t have a father that I needed in my life, right. I wanted to, like, kind of feel for somebody else, to take care of them, protect them. … My mother gave him the nickname and it just stuck.
Changa: The last year [before incarceration], when you were 18 or 19, you said that you lived on the streets. How did you and your brother Bam-Bam stay together?
Johnson: My great-grandma is a warm-hearted woman, [she took us both in]. Me and my older brother . . . when I was 3 we would come home hungry with our mother not at home; she was addicted to drugs. We were so hungry that we would try to eat roaches.
Changa: Let’s talk about that day in [July], the events that took place.
Johnson: I grabbed my keys. I ran into the living room and he was [lying] on the floor. I should have paid more attention that he was [lying] on the floor. It was a beautiful day outside. This 12-year-old kid — it’s not normal for him to be [lying] on the floor in the middle of the afternoon. But I told him to take my car keys to my grandmother so the police would not impound my car and find my gun.
Police were confused. I could see from my grandma’s house next door. I could see my brother [lying] down in the house next door. I saw an officer stepping over something [it turned out to be Bam-Bam]. I’m getting mad. My mother is trying to enter the house to reach Bam-Bam, but police kept pushing her out. EMS pulled the stretcher through the yard with my brother on it. [Bam-Bam was pronounced dead at the hospital at an unknown time.]
Changa: That must have been extremely traumatic giving how much you loved your baby brother.
Johnson: The other two officers came over to the house. I didn’t feel comfortable being around my daughter who I was babysitting in my relative’s house next door; so, I called her mother to come and get her.
[After his daughter went with her mother, Kevin Johnson wandered through the neighborhood with the gun from his car after police left. Neighbors continuously stopped Kevin to ask if he was okay. He states that he wandered for about 30 minutes until he saw the sergeant in charge of the police searching the house. According to Johnson when he was shooting the police, he kept thinking, “You killed my brother!” According to Johnson he could hear the commotion and shouts but he mentally blacked out.]
James: Do you feel that the guilt you had for Bam-Bam’s death [having him take car keys to your grandmother’s house and being stopped by police engaged in a search warrant for you] was what caused you to lose control when you saw the police officer who came later to the scene to supervise?
Changa: The officer you shot wasn’t the one stepping over Bam-Bam’s body?
Johnson: Right. That officer came when the EMT arrived. He had nothing to do with my brother. In that moment, but in my mind, I know that he didn’t do my brother.
Changa: It wasn’t the officer himself, it was what the police supervisor represented?
Johnson: Yeah.
Changa: What happens from there?
Johnson: After the shooting, I walked down the street and around a corner, I saw my mother. Her face jumped up from the ground. She was telling me to remember my daughter. I snapped out of whatever daze I was in. I needed to see my 2-year-old.
Changa: You were apprehended, charged and sentenced, and given the death penalty.
James: How did attorneys deal with your emotional and psychological needs as part of the defense strategy? You were in a continuous psychological crisis. You were 19; the brain doesn’t fully form until or after age 25.
Johnson: The defense didn’t want to pursue that type of strategy. The fancy lawyer was so different from the woman public defender; the first thing he asked me when he came to see was “What happened?” A year after it happened. In the first round, a majority of the jury was in favor of second-degree murder.
James: How do you see, after nearly two decades in prison, your growth and development from raising your daughter from behind the wall? Do you imagine a future of raising your grandson and supporting your daughter?
Johnson: Oh my God. I can’t support her. When I came to prison in my first week or month, I got advice from a fellow inmate who was like my father. He’s like, “Man, it’s gonna be hard. No matter what, don’t give up.” Fortunately, I had lots of friends that were involved who would go get my daughter and bring her up here after her mother was killed two years later.
James: Although you have been in prison for years, she is so lucky to have a parent to care for her; despite all the obstacles, she really knows you love her.
Changa: That’s an honorable thing, man. Members of Feed the People contacted [Missourians Against the Death Penalty] to offer support to your daughter and grandson. Hopefully, you will be free one of these days to take care of your family yourself, but we’re going to share the responsibility if that can give you any type of assurance.
Johnson: Yeah, yeah. She’s been going through a lot with the loss of her mother [who was shot in the back of the head by a man she rejected while walking with her 4-year-old daughter to Walmart].
Changa: As an organizer, I worked with several different families and individuals [Troy Davis and his family] on death row. How have you been able to cope, given that one of your biggest fears is how to support the well-being of your daughter?
Johnson: I got so many hours to live … that’s terrifying. It’s the hardest thing to cope with, and then it’s the uncertainty.
James: Do you find comfort in spirituality?
Johnson: I pray. I dream a lot; I always feel like if I can’t live the life I want, then I can escape in dreams. Prayer brings me back.
Changa: Are there any words or advice for youngsters coming up right now, for young brothers and sisters who have similar conditions and circumstances?
Johnson: I think my biggest mistake in life was just even carrying a gun. Because when you carry a gun, you create opportunities to use it and most of the time you don’t need to use it.
James: I have been talking about your case at Yale, Dartmouth, etc. People are learning more, and we plan to do more.
Changa: You’re not riding alone. We’re not just gonna sit back idly with our fingers crossed and saying, “That’s a damn shame.” Folks are literally fighting on your behalf from the block to the boardroom.
Johnson: I appreciate that love. I want to say that I have great remorse for shooting and killing that police officer.
James: Teenagers are raising kids in emotional and psychological distress because the culture is violent and does not offer enough resources. Despite a list of childhood horrors, Kevin managed to love and to be loved.
Changa: After speaking to brothers who have been on death row and organizing with and meeting their families, I can say that there is no type of pain like knowing that the state is planning on taking a person’s life.
James: The loss of the officer’s life is a tragedy for their family, community and society at large. Also tragic is systemic child abuse, child neglect and child poverty; the death of 12-year-old Bam-Bam who would be 30 this year; and a 37-year-old who should be babysitting his grandson and helping to make dinner with his daughter.
Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty requests that we petition signatures to spare Johnson’s life (the request is life imprisonment instead of the death penalty).
Note: The op-ed at the start of this piece was written by Kalonji Changa, and the interview that follows was jointly conducted by Joy James and Kalonji Changa. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Due to a restrictive new anti-abortion law in Missouri, health care providers in the state are reportedly waiting until ectopic pregnancies become dangerous to provide medical treatment — despite the fact that such pregnancies are known to be painful, nonviable and potentially fatal to those who experience them.
In 2019, Republican lawmakers in the state passed a “trigger ban” on abortions that would take effect if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision protecting abortion rights, was overturned. After the Court overturned that precedent last week, state Attorney General Eric Schmitt certified in a legal opinion that the trigger ban is now in effect.
The new law forbids anyone from inducing or performing an abortion on another person, and contains no exceptions for rape or incest. An abortion can only be performed when a person’s health or life is in danger, it stipulates.
But the Missouri law doesn’t specifically define when a pregnancy is deemed dangerous, one of the many ambiguities in the law that may make it difficult for health care providers to determine if an abortion can legally take place.
Ectopic pregnancies occur when a fertilized egg implants in an area outside of the uterus, usually within the fallopian tubes. These types of pregnancies are nonviable, and if left untreated, can cause severe pain or even death for a person who is experiencing one. Ectopic pregnancies can also make it difficult for a person to get pregnant in the future.
Early treatment is essential in ectopic pregnancies. In rare cases, they can resolve on their own, but most of the time, an abortion is required to protect the health of the pregnant person.
Due to the wording of the Missouri law, however, many patients are being told that they have to wait until their lives are in more immediate danger to get an abortion, according to Jane van Dis, an assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester.
Missouri’s trigger ban specifically states that an abortion can only occur if a person’s pregnancy “create[s] a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.” In the early stages of an ectopic pregnancy, such a serious risk may not be documentable.
“We are now observing patients with ectopic pregnancy and hemoperitoneum until they have a documented falling hemoglobin or unstable vital signs,” van Dis wrote in a tweet on Tuesday, citing information from a colleague in Missouri.
Those who support reproductive rights have condemned Missouri’s new law.
“If he wanted to, @AGEricSchmitt could issue an opinion letter TODAY defining ‘medical emergency’ in a way that would save lives,” wrote Democratic state Rep. Sarah Unsicker. “If he wanted to. He should affirmatively state what he will not prosecute as an abortion.”
“This is like going to the doctor with appendicitis, doctor confirming appendicitis, and then waiting for your appendix to burst and poisoning your bloodstream before taking it out,” author Patrick S. Tomlinson said. “It’s medical malpractice.”
According to bioethicist and surgeon Louise Perkins King, medical professionals’ fears of being prosecuted for performing abortions too early in ectopic pregnancies are warranted.
“I’m sorry to report that ectopic pregnancy is absolutely in play” under the law, she said in a tweet that was part of a larger thread discussing the matter.
In subsequent posts, Perkins King elaborated:
Legally a “medical emergency” is a current not expected emergency. So the defense is that standard of care demands treatment ahead of emergent circumstances being actively present – but that violates the law. … Even with the language re reasonable judgment/medical emergency. I would still treat if I found myself in a restrictive state, but I would open myself to suit.
“So damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” Perkins King added. “And that’s the point with so much legislation that limits the rights of pregnant persons.”
In the final days of Missouri’s legislative session in May 2019, lawmakers turned their focus to a bill that would outlaw abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The abortion ban passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Mike Parson remains in limbo, at least for now. A leaked draft opinion suggests the high court is preparing to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling, which would trigger bans in Missouri and about a dozen other states.
But another piece of the same Missouri bill that has garnered far less attention has already taken effect. It has funneled millions of tax dollars to fight abortion, and it may well move tens of millions of dollars more to that battle — a drain on state revenues that legislative oversight officials failed to forecast.
That provision beefed up tax credits for Missouri taxpayers who donate money to pregnancy resource centers, or crisis pregnancy centers. Abortion foes praise the nonprofit centers for supporting women and presenting alternatives to ending pregnancies, but supporters of abortion say the facilities mislead women by appearing to offer clinical services and unbiased advice.
An analysis by ProPublica found the measure is proving costly for the state. Until an expansion took effect last year, Missouri residents who donated to the centers were able to claim a credit of 50% for their donations, meaning for every $1,000 in donations, a taxpayer’s bill dropped by $500. The law increased the credit to 70% in 2021, further shifting the cost of those contributions to the state.
Because the centers are nonprofit, donors can deduct the remaining $300 of a $1,000 donation from their federal income taxes. (A deduction is worth less than a credit because it only reduces taxable income. A credit reduces dollar-for-dollar what a person owes in taxes.) Ultimately, a donor can end up recouping close to 80% of their gift in credits and deductions.
Lawmakers also removed the limit to how many pregnancy resource tax credits the state could issue in a given year starting in July 2021. And they removed the program’s previous end date of 2024; the tax credit program will continue unless the law is changed.
The cost analysis of the bill, authored by nonpartisan legislative oversight directors, concluded the changes would carry a nominal cost to taxpayers. Increasing the tax credit to 70% from 50% meant the same donations that resulted in $3.5 million in tax credits a year — the maximum for the program before the increase took effect — would now result in $4.9 million, a jump of $1.4 million a year. But that was only if donations did not increase.
The authors acknowledged that without a cap, the impact could be greater if the increased tax credit led to more giving. And that’s exactly what happened. In the quarter ending March 31, the state authorized more than $7 million in pregnancy resource tax credits, more than three times higher than in any previous quarter.
Bigger tax incentives for giving to the crisis pregnancy centers brought out more donors than in previous years.
“We definitely did see an increase in big donations,” said Deb Beussink, assistant director of Birthright of Cape Girardeau, one of the 76 pregnancy resource centers across the state authorized to participate in the program.
“And these were from donors who had already been donating well to us,” she added. “But they wanted to take advantage of that tax credit, so they enlarged their donation.”
Until recently, Missouri has been the only state to issue tax credits for donations to pregnancy resource centers. In April, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law a program offering a maximum of $3.5 million per year in tax credits. Ohio considered a similar measure, but it did not advance.
Missouri’s tax credits for pregnancy resource centers come on top of the record $8 million in funding for the centers that lawmakers allocated for the fiscal year starting July 1. Those funds go to centers for the social services they provide. Missouri has long been one of the nation’s leading suppliers of tax dollars for pregnancy resource centers. An Associated Press analysis this year estimated the state had issued more than $44 million to centers since 2010, third most of any state behind Texas and Pennsylvania.
The tax credit’s impact on state revenues, and the potential for that impact to deepen, has one Missouri budget analyst concerned.
“It does make me nervous,” said Amy Blouin, the president and CEO of the Missouri Budget Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that studies the state’s spending and public policy decisions.
Legislators and advocates on both sides of the abortion debate said they were surprised by the increase in the tax credits that were issued. Even the bill’s sponsor in the state Senate said he was unaware of the $7 million in tax credits for one quarter. “I would have expected that for an annual number,” said Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Republican from St. Louis’ western suburbs.
Taxpayers can only redeem tax credits up to the amount of their tax bill, but what’s left over can be used the next year. Businesses also can take advantage. The maximum tax credit per taxpayer per year is $50,000.
The recipients of Missouri’s pregnancy resource tax credits are confidential — unlike other types of state tax credits that are reported on the Missouri Accountability Portal.
Kyle Rieman, who was the oversight director and lead author of the cost analysis of the tax credit expansion, said lawmakers gave his staff only an hour to analyze the financial impact before they voted. And he said state agencies provided him with little data to help make an estimate of more than the program’s minimum cost.
“It pretty much didn’t matter what the cost was,” he said in a text, “they were going to pass the bill.”
But Koenig said he provided Rieman’s office with the tax credit proposal weeks before the vote and asked for — and received — a confidential financial analysis. He said that if the research had pointed to major costs ahead, “it could give pause.”
Rieman said such requests are common but “not official or required, so they are not a priority.”
The analysis sent to legislators before the vote said Rieman’s staff wanted more information to update their analysis. But Parson signed the measure before Rieman could publish a more complete review.
The final analysis, published nearly a month after the governor’s signature, still did not fully explore the potential cost. It said the Department of Social Services, which issues the tax credit, indicated there would be “no fiscal impact” on the agency. Asked how there could be none, a Social Services spokesperson told ProPublica that the department meant the program did not affect its own budget and the “impact is on the state’s general revenue.”
Rieman said the Office of Administration, which coordinates management of the state, did not provide information about how much the program’s cost could exceed the minimum estimate or consider the costs of removing the program’s end date. The office did not respond to questions from ProPublica.
Rieman said the experience was “a clear example of a policy that was passed by the General Assembly and Governor without any real public process or consideration of what the fiscal impact would be to the state.”
A spokesperson for Parson did not respond to ProPublica’s questions.
Koenig said he did not consider the amount of revenue diverted for the pregnancy resource tax credit to be significant next to the state’s $48 billion budget.
“If we’re going to put this ban on abortions in place, I wanted to make sure we support women who are going to be having these babies, and the way to do that was increasing the pregnancy resource tax credit,” Koenig said.
Mallory Schwarz, the executive director of Pro-Choice Missouri, said abortion foes knew exactly what they were doing when they expanded the tax credit.
“Crisis pregnancy centers or pregnancy resource centers are unregulated, unlicensed fronts designed to look like legitimate medical clinics, run by people who are anti-abortion, and intentionally mislead and coerce pregnant people to try to scare them out of having abortions or delay their care to the point where they can no longer have an abortion,” she said. “But at the same time, we’re lining the pockets of these pregnancy centers and incentivizing (people) to give against their own self-interest and their own well-being.”
Jill Schupp, a Democratic senator from St. Louis County who voted against the bill, said she was “shocked” by the amount of tax credits being issued: “These numbers are huge.” While the budget is flush with federal stimulus, she said, the cost “might not look like it’s hurting other programs. But that will change.”
And even a Republican who voted for the bill said the new numbers are concerning. “I wasn’t aware it was that much money. You just brought it to my attention,” said Rep. John Wiemann, a St. Charles County Republican. “If it’s outside what the fiscal note said, someone needs to explain why it’s that high.”
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Not long ago, Kansas showed strong bipartisan support for vaccines as a tool to support a robust public health system.
But bills with language expanding religious exemptions for childhood vaccine requirements were passed by the state Senate in March and now face the House when the legislature reconvenes April 25.
They are among the more than 520 vaccine-related bills introduced in statehouses nationwide since Jan. 1, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Of those bills, 66 specifically relate to childhood vaccine requirements in 25 states.
In Missouri, for example, legislators are considering a measure exempting private school students from vaccine requirements. In Louisiana, a bill in the House would prohibit vaccinations on school property and at school-sponsored events.
Fewer than 10% of the bills will likely gain any traction, but the volume of attempts to roll back vaccine requirements is alarming, said Rekha Lakshmanan, director of advocacy and public policy at the Immunization Partnership, a vaccine education organization.
“Those are all chipping away at one of the end goals for anti-vaccine activists, which is completely doing away with school requirements,” said Lakshmanan. “That’s what people need to be paying very close attention to.”
All states require specific childhood vaccinations for illnesses such as polio, measles, and mumps, but exemptions vary. They all allow exemptions for people with medical concerns, 44 states allow religious exemptions, and 15 allow philosophical exemptions, according to 2021 data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Vaccinations are central to public health efforts at disease control and are foundational to the country’s social and economic system, said Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, a public health advocacy organization.
“Politicians are poking holes in our public safety net,” Castrucci said of the onslaught of anti-vaccine legislation. “Vaccines, in and of themselves, are not medicine. It’s all of us collectively protecting each other.”
To be sure, anti-vaccine activists have existed as long as vaccines. And legislation to limit requirements to vaccinate against diseases such as polio, measles, and meningitis are not new. But, according to public health experts, the movement has gained momentum amid the coronavirus pandemic, boosting the reach of high-profile anti-vaccine activists.
“If you had told me that a pandemic — and what I would consider a miraculous vaccine for that disease — would trigger an anti-vax surge, I would never have believed it,” said Tracy Russell, executive director of Nurture KC, which works to improve children’s and family health in the Kansas City area of Missouri and Kansas. “But that’s exactly what happened.”
One pending Kansas bill would mandate that vaccine exemption requests be accepted without scrutiny if based on religion or personal beliefs. Currently, the state leaves it to day care centers and school districts to accept requests for religious exemptions.
State Sen. Mark Steffen stands behind amendments he pushed nullifying Kansas’ childhood vaccine requirements. The Republican, who said he is “not an anti-vaxxer in any shape or form,” lamented mandates he said were a vestige of a “kinder, gentler time” and suggested that individual rights supersede mandates designed to protect public health.
Steffen, an anesthesiologist who said he is under investigation by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts for prescribing ivermectin to covid patients, said suggestions that a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases could occur if vaccination rates fall amount to fearmongering by people paid off by the pharmaceutical industry.
But Andy Marso, a Kansas vaccine advocate who launched a Facebook page to organize pro-vaccine Kansans, called such assertions insulting and said he doesn’t take any money from drug companies. He contracted meningitis B in 2004 before vaccines against it were available. He was in a coma for three weeks and had parts of all four limbs amputated.
“For me, this has been part of what helped me move on from that trauma,” Marso said. “I have a story that people need to know about.”
The legislative efforts to nullify the requirements fly in the face of widespread public support for vaccines and vaccine mandates, nationally and in Kansas, said Russell. More than 9 in 10 Kansas voters believe wellness vaccines are safe and support vaccine requirements, according to a survey conducted this year for Nurture KC. Kansas voters overwhelmingly support religious exemptions, but a majority say they support tightening existing exemptions, according to the survey.
Before the pandemic, outbreaks of measles in Kansas, Minnesota, Washington, and other states, as well as outbreaks of pertussis, had reinforced the idea that preventing disease spread required consistently high vaccination rates. And mandates, in part, helped create the mechanism for public health authorities to make vaccines widely available and accessible, said Erica DeWald, spokesperson for Vaccinate Your Family, an advocacy organization.
“Lost in what has become a political conversation around requirements is the danger of these vaccine-preventable diseases,” said DeWald. “All it takes is one case.”
Previously, anti-vaccine activists relied on long-since-debunked narratives that vaccines cause autism, said Renée DiResta, the research manager of the Stanford Internet Observatory, which studies cyber policies and how people use the internet. But in the years leading up to the pandemic, the movement began to shift its focus to align more with the populist ideology of “individual freedoms” put forward by Second Amendment advocates and the tea party.
Donald Trump expressed vaccine skepticism long before becoming president. But it was when the then-president was said to be considering naming Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known anti-vaccine activist, to “investigate” vaccine safety that the movement found its footing, said Timothy Callaghan, assistant professor in the health policy and management department at Texas A&M University. The embrace of anti-vaccine messaging by prominent politicians — whether because they are “true believers” or just see it as political necessity — has “lent legitimacy that the movement lacked before,” Callaghan added.
The similarity of bills from state to state raises red flags to vaccine advocates because it suggests that a coordinated effort to dismantle vaccine requirements and public health infrastructure is underway.
“Because the anti-vax movement is becoming aligned with the far right, I think those information-sharing channels are becoming more sophisticated,” said Northe Saunders, executive director of the SAFE Communities Coalition, a pro-vaccine organization. “Their ability to attract far-right politicians who see vaccines as a cause has grown. That gets them attention, if not votes.”
Not all Republicans find common cause with anti-vaccine activists, said Kansas state Rep. John Eplee, a Republican and family physician. He said he voted against some covid-related restrictions, like a statewide mask mandate, because he believed doing so might help defuse pandemic tensions. But he advocates for all vaccines, including covid shots.
Enough others in the Kansas legislature agreed in the case of one bill: Language targeting vaccines, under the auspices of parental rights, was ultimately removed before it was passed. Some observers are cautiously optimistic the House won’t pass the other bills as written.
While Eplee hopes the “passions” inflamed by covid die down with distance from the early days of the pandemic, he’s concerned that voters have forgotten the damage done by vaccine-controllable diseases, making them susceptible to disinformation from determined anti-vaccine activists and the politicians among their ranks.
“I hate to see human nature play out like that,” said Eplee. “But if people are vocal enough and loud enough, they can swing enough votes to change the world in a not-so-good way for public health and vaccinations.”
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Mayor Tishaura Jones, Who Took Office In April 2021, Promised To Empty The Jail Known As “The Workhouse” Within The First 100 Days Of Her Tenure. Now, activists want clarification on when the mayor will fulfill her campaign promise to close the St. Louis Medium Security Institution, more commonly known as the Workhouse, which activists have been trying to shut down for years.
The post St. Louis’s Movement-Backed Mayor Promised To Close An Infamous Jail. What’s The Hold Up? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
A Republican lawmaker in Missouri wants to forbid the transfer and prescription of abortion medications in the state, and to place severe penalties on anyone who helps another person use such drugs, even in cases where the pregnancy isn’t viable and could result in serious complications or death.
Republican state Rep. Brian Seitz’s bill, HB 2810, would make it a felony offense to transport or make available “abortion-inducing devices or drugs” in the state. Under his proposal, anyone found guilty of doing so would be guilty of a class B felony, which would result in a prison sentence of five to 15 years.
Because of the way the bill is written, it would actually impose greater penalties on individuals who help people with ectopic pregnancies get abortion-inducing medication. Ectopic pregnancies happen when a fertilized egg implants outside of a person’s uterus, most commonly in the fallopian tubes, and are almost universally non-viable as well as life-threatening.
“An ectopic pregnancy can cause your fallopian tube to burst open. Without treatment, the ruptured tube can lead to life-threatening bleeding,” the MAYO Clinic states on its website.
Under Seitz’s bill, individuals who provide someone with abortion medication to terminate an ectopic pregnancy could be charged with a class A felony, including doctors or other medical personnel. Individuals who are convicted of class A felonies face a minimum of 10 years in prison, and can even be sentenced to a lifetime behind bars.
Seitz has promoted harsher sentences for individuals who help others access abortion procedures. In a debate on his bill, the Republican lawmaker said that he believes the penalties laid out in his proposal were not “strict enough.” When asked if he backed the death penalty for those providing abortion drugs, Seitz answered, “we’ll have to look at that in other legislation.”
There is currently a slew of anti-abortion measures being considered by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature — including an amendment that is attached to many bills that would allow individuals to sue others who help facilitate abortions for Missouri residents, even if those abortions take place out of state. Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman’s (R) proposal would let people sue everyone from the doctor to the staffer scheduling the appointment.
Olivia Cappello, the press officer for state media campaigns at Planned Parenthood, has described Coleman’s proposal as “wild” and “bonkers.”
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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