The day Reginald Clemons and his supporters have been fighting for is near. The hearing set by Special Master Michael Manners has been postponed twice over the last three years and hopefully the third date is the charm. The long-awaited hearing for Reginald Clemons is scheduled to begin on Monday, September 17.
This case involves the tragedy of two young sisters losing their lives on the night of April 4, 1991. Their cousin, Tom Cummins, had originally been booked and charged with murder after he told police conflicting stories and failed a polygraph test.
When a flashlight was found on the bridge belonging to Reggie’s cousin Antonio Richardson, the spotlight shifted from Cummins to Clemons and the group he was hanging out with on the same night.
The high-profile case seemed to have come at the right moment for assistant prosecutor Nels Moss who was running for circuit attorney. With a lengthy history of prosecutorial misconduct, Moss maximized his political mileage by trying each of the four defendants separately. Under Missouri’s law of accomplice liability, Moss never had to prove who the actual murderer was, just that the young men were all involved.
Thanks to a hostile media, coerced confessions by police, a racially-biased jury and gross prosecutorial misconduct, guilty verdicts for all four defendants were reached. Reggie, Antonio and Marlon Gray were given death sentences. The only white defendant, Daniel Winfrey, served 15 years of a 30-year sentence in exchange for his testimony against the other three.
Winfrey served his time and was released in 2007. Antonio’s death sentence was overturned and he is serving life without the possibility of parole. Marlon was executed in 2005.
I am coordinator for the Justice for Reggie Campaign. I have my own set of beliefs about this case, but what I have struggled to do is to present the troubling aspects of this case to the broader public. Could any of the defendants have received fair trials in 1993? Further, should the case be independently reviewed?
In an incredible show of power, St. Louisans and citizens in Missouri and around the world, made their voices heard in the days leading up to Reggie’s execution date of June 17, 2009. At the core of the wave of protests were over 200 influential individuals and organizations, along with tens of thousands citizens who signed Reggie’s petition. They shook the mighty pillars of Missouri’s criminal justice system to warn all of the impending injustice.
In a historic move, the Missouri Supreme Court appointed the Special Master to review the case with subpoena power to gather new evidence. After listening to both the State and Reggie’s legal team, Judge Manners will make his recommendation to the Missouri Supreme Court as to what the next step should be.
The death penalty system in this country is flawed and politically motivated. As a result, totally innocent people have been executed and to date 140 condemned prisoners have been exonerated from death row. In many of those 140 cases, justice for the murder victims’ families were completely crushed when prosecutors took the most expedient path to score political points.
Reggie’s case must be lifted up so that citizens can re-examine the legitimacy of the death penalty. The facts are that it doesn’t deter murders, it’s a costly drain on state budgets and, far too many times, an innocent person gets caught in the web. Join me in affirming that the death penalty has no place in a humane, civilized society and let us work to end capital punishment in Missouri.
