When Chris Koster first ran for Missouri Attorney General in 2008, he had a long way to go with the African-American community in St. Louis. Koster hails from the other side of the state, where he was a Republican death penalty prosecutor before becoming a Republican state senator. Among black voters, these were unattractive resume credits for a man suddenly running for Attorney General as a Democrat. In wooing black voters in St. Louis, Koster argued that he would be more progressive in the office than his strongest opponent in the Democratic primary, Margaret Donnelly. As a very liberal (and very small-statured) woman, Koster argued, she would need to situate herself as very tough on crime, whereas Koster would have more latitude to lean to the left as someone with established conservative bona fides.
To put the case bluntly, Koster mislead our community in trying to win our votes. The George Allen Jr. case gave Koster a shining example of a criminal justice matter that cried out for principled, progressive leadership, and he has reacted shamefully, following the worst model established by Jay Nixon, who worked his way up from a conservative Democratic Attorney General to become a mostly conservative Democratic Governor. If Koster plans to follow Nixon’s path by pursuing miscarriages of justice such as he is attempting with George Allen Jr., then he can expect continued bitter opposition from U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay and other influential leaders in our community.
“As you know, Mr. Allen is a mentally ill black man who was wrongfully convicted in 1982 and has spent the last 30 years incarcerated for crimes of which he is actually innocent,” Clay told Koster. “I am astonished by your decision to appeal and to ask for a stay of Mr. Allen’s release.”
Koster appealed a Nov. 2 ruling by Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green that ordered Allen’s release within 10 days after Judge Green overturned Allen’s 1982 rape and murder conviction based on the police’s failure to disclose numerous pieces of evidence pointing to his innocence. Newly discovered police and lab documents, which were not disclosed at trial, show that St. Louis police found semen samples at the crime scene excluding Allen as the culprit. The prosecution also failed to turn over fingerprint evidence that excluded Allen. To top it off, St. Louis police took the confession of this mentally disturbed man when he was under the influence of alcohol.
“Instead of wasting resources on an appeal, the state should conduct an independent audit of all the cases handled by the detective and the serologist to ensure that others aren’t wrongly incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit,” said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project in New York.
We strongly agree. Real leadership in pursuit of justice in this case would have seen Koster call for an investigation into cases where Detective Herb Riley and lab analyst Joseph Crow were critical to the successful prosecution of rape or murder. Rather than start an investigation that could exonerate more innocent men – and alert police to the fact that the real murderers and rapists were not apprehended or convicted – Koster has shown cowardice, fearful of poorly informed out-state “law and order” voters. Koster’s action in this case seems motivated by his concern about how his action would be depicted in Republican attack ads in 2016, not how it would impact justice in this current case and in the future.
We commend Judge Green as well as St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, who looked at the new evidence and said she will not try Allen again if his conviction remains overturned. We appeal to the Western District Court of Appeals to rule swiftly and fairly for this man who spent 30 years behind bars because of unethical police work. And we want Chris Koster to know– you have a long, hard four years ahead of you if this is how you intend to behave.
