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A Report on the Injustice in the Application of the Death Penalty in Missouri (1978-1996)(Microsoft Word document) News
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Local News and Announcements... Don't miss anything...please scroll downOoops...the wrong address for the Public Interest Litigation Clinic was posted below. Again, they will be coordinating an assistance fund for Joe Amrine. The correct addresss for the PILC is 305 E. 63rd St. KCMO 64113. Earmark checks for "The Joe Amrine Fund."0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:  
Reflections on the Freeing of Joe Amrine(and a plea for support for Joe) Frequently over the past 17 years, Joe Amrine said he dreamed of finally being set free one day. Yet as he stood outside the Cole County courthouse on Monday, 28 July, he remarked with a jubilant sigh that his dreams "were nothing like this" gathering with supporters and a dozen reporters. It was a fitting turn in this Missouri misscarriage of justice, as Joe had been convicted and sentenced to die in the same building in 1986. Joe Amrine became the 111th individual in the United States (the 3rd in Missouri) to be exonerated after being wrongfully-convicted and sentenced to death since 1977. The Death Penalty Information Center reports that nine people have been exonerated thus far in 2003, a record annual number since capital punishment was once again ruled constitutiaontal. Since then, 870 people have been executed nationally, 60 in Missouri. Cole County Prosecutor Bill Tackett stated publicly he elected to drop charges against Joe, only because DNA testing proved inconclusive, failing to implicate Amrine in the murder of Gary Barber, another prisoner at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Tackett finally acted upon the Missouri Supreme Court April 29 decision overturning Amrine’s conviction. Either release him by mid-June or retry him, the court ordered. The last six weeks while he was incarcerated in the dilapitated Cole County Jail were "killing me," Joe told FOR on 25 July. This time span "with my hopes up so high" were "bothering me a lot more than the 17 years" spent dwelling under a death sentence, most of it at the Potosi prison. "Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty celebrates Amrine’s release and condemns the lengthy process to win his release," MADP noted in a public statement issued minutes after Joe was freed. "This case is a classic reason to insist on a moratorium of all executions…. In its (Missouri Supreme Court) hearing on February 4th we heard the Assistant Attorney General declare that the Court need not stop the execution of an innocent person as long as the prisoner had a fair trial. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected that policy, declaring that a ‘manifest injustice’ would occur if an innocent man was executed." It’s difficult to imagine the psychological torture experienced by human beings living under a death sentence, perhaps even more weighty for individuals wrongfully convicted. Joe shared some other thoughts which helped to further heighten my understanding of the hell bore by those our state courts condemn to be killed. Abolitionists were aware that in the weeks before November 2001, Attorney General Jay Nixon had asked the Missouri Supreme Court to set execution dates for eight men, including Joe who had run out of conventional court appeals. The high court dutifully complied with most all of the requests for such dates; state officials eventually executed six of those men. The justices, however, delayed setting a date for Joe and convened instead the extraordinary hearing to consider his innocence. Until the high court set that hearing for Joe though, the AG’s office automatically sent to the court a request for an execution date—with a copy coldly sent to Joe at the Potosi prison—every two weeks. Officials seem to operate the machinery of state death in Missouri, either oblivious of a desire to seek the truth (much less, behaving morally in their embrace of murder as justice). Or perhaps, more frighteningly, some officials seem intent to bury the condemned humans along with certain truths and falsehoods. At the impromptu news conference in the alley beside the jail in Jefferson City, Joe noted his greatest pains while incarcerated came with the passing of his mother and with his missing the growth of his now 29-year-old son, who was just a todler when Joe first was sent to prison. He was thrilled about getting acqainted with his son, siblings and their kids. He lamented too, seeing for the last time, men he had come to know over the years, being taking away to an isolation cell, just days before they were ultimately executed. He knew all the 60 men, many as good friends, only to be killed by the state. A few hours later on Monday as we stood in the Columbia office of the Mid-MO FOR, I showed him a poster-size photograph that was given to me a few years ago of four men, dressed in Missouri prison uniforms, all of whom have since been executed—Sam McDonald, Maurice Byrd, Frederick Lashley and Mose Young. Tears welled up in his eyes and spilled over a bit. "’Big Mo’ (Young) was my cellmate for several years," Joe recalled. Several times during the day, Joe spoke of other individuals still dwelling under a death sentence and of his desier to struggle to help abolish capital punishment in Missouri. The single individual perhaps most responsible for helping to get Joe freed was his attorney, Sean O'Brien. He remarked, "It was way too easy to convict him in the first place, and way too hard to get him a new trial." Normally I’m no fan of shopping, but I was truly thrilled when Sean called me at about 8:00 a.m., asking if I’d be willing to go buy some nice looking clothes for Joe to wear to meet the media and public. He noted he was en route from his home in Kansas City to Jefferson City, where Tackett was planning to hold a news conference at 10:30. It seemed likely, Sean said, that the prosecutor would be dropping charges and finally freeing Joe. I called John McHale, producer (along with Ryan Wylie and Dan Huck) of "Unreasonable Doubt: the Joe Amrine Case," the vehicle which more than anything else, helped make Missourians aware of Joe plight. Thankfully, John was in town, so we shopped together. With little other choices at this time in the morning, we shopped at that slave-labor loving Wal-Mart, and even enjoyed the experience. "What size pants does Joe wear?," I asked Sean. Joe didn’t’ really know, the attroney noted, since prison outfitters offer such limited fashion possibilities (beige and baggy). We guessed too big by two sizes on his pants and too small on his belt, a bit similar to the Potosi clothiers. Joe did give us some good-natured ribbing about our inablility to shop. Still, such challenges were easy to cope with on such a grand day. Beyond the joy of these times though, we encourage folks to remember that Joe will need continued support. When Sean spoke to the media yesterday outside the Cole County Jail, he mentioned it is cruel irony that the state of Missouri (and probably most states) provide some official follow-up and support for convicted felons who were presumably guilty through the parole process (a friend wisely points out, this version of state guidance can really be more humiliating and draconion than helpful). However, for folks like Joe-- wrongfully convicted and finally freed-- the state provides nada. All Joe had with him as he left state/county custody was the Wal-Mart clothes on his back and some in a plastic bag, compliments of our generous friend, John McHale. A fund to help Joe make ends-meet is getting started now. To contribute, please write a check out to "Public Interest Litigation Clinic" and earmark it for "The Joe Amrine Fund" then mail to PILC; 5319 Rockhill Rd.; Kansas City 64110. Donations are tax-deductible, going through the PILC. For all the talk from officials about offenders appropriately taking personal responsibility for their wrong-doings, there likely will be little public acceptance by prosecutors, judges and prison officials in acknowledging their wrong doings in stealing 16 years of "free" world life from Joe-- much less a willingness to offer restitution. As a result, it's up to people of conscience and commitment to step up and chip in as we can afford. Thanks in advance for what you can contribute and please pass along the request for help. In peace and ongoing struggle for continuing to realize a more just society, Jeff Stack Mid-Missouri Fellow ship of Reconciliation, coordinator MADP Legislative Coordinator And for more information, log onto the websites of the Kansas City Star, www.kcstar.com and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stlouistoday.com. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
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| Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation |
P.O. Box 268 Columbia, Missouri 65205 |
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