Reginald Clemons had another day in court on Wednesday, March 2.
Judge Rex Burlison called a hearing to make sure Clemons had retained counsel to help defend him against two counts of first degree murder from the 1991 Chain of Rocks Bridge case.
The Missouri Supreme Court vacated his 1993 conviction on November 24 and gave the circuit attorney 60 days in which to file new charges. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce refiled the murder charges, again seeking the death penalty, as well as rape charges. Clemons was charged with raping Robin Kerry and Julie Kerry in 1991, though never tried for rape.
Clemons was represented by two public defenders at the March 2 hearing. They told the court they had explained to Clemons some conflicts they have with representing him. The conflicts were not described in court. Clemons asked the judge for time to consider how to proceed with his choice of counsel, and the judge continued the case until 9 a.m. Monday, March 7.
The judge said he had received from Clemons a handwritten motion for a speedy trial. The judge and state prosecutors seemed doubtful that was enough time for new counsel to prepare for a capital trial, but they began trying to schedule a few weeks for the trial within the 180 days Clemons had requested.
The judge said Clemons could withdraw his request for a speedy trial after he decides on counsel, or at any time.
The judge directed the state to prepare a memo outlining how Clemons can e-file his own motions from prison. For all of the professional legal help Clemons has received over decades of appeals, he often handwrites and files his own pleadings. He has mailed hand-copied versions of many such pleadings to The St. Louis American.
Rachel Smith, one of five prosecutors working on the case, told the court that on March 1 Clemons was indicted for rape and robbery and needed to be arraigned on those charges. The robbery is a new charge, though evidence of robbery always was used to tie Clemons and his co-defendants to the crime scene.
Thomas Cummins, a cousin of the Kerry sisters, claimed the men who raped his cousins and forced them off the bridge had stolen a Swatch brand watch from him. A Swatch watch that Cummins identified as his was retrieved from the recliner of a friend of Marlin Gray’s whom Gray visited after the April 4, 1991 incident.
Gray was executed in 2005. Another codefendant, Antonio Richardson, is serving life without parole; his death sentence was commuted because he was a juvenile sentenced to death by a judge, not a jury. The other codefendant, Daniel Winfrey, who cooperated with the prosecution in the original trials, was not eligible for the death penalty because of his age. He was released from prison in 2007.
Clemons’ execution date had been set by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2009 just weeks before the court – to the amazement of many – appointed Judge Michael Manners as Special Master to open a new evidence phase and issue a report. His report, delivered on September 25, 2013, ultimately led the Supreme Court to vacate Clemons’ 1993 convictions.
Clemons remains confined at the Potosi Correctional Center on a 15-year sentence for a 2007 assault on a Missouri Department of Corrections employee, though he will be spending the rest of the week and weekend in St. Louis. The judge ordered him held by local authorities until his Monday court date on the murder charges, with the expectation that he will also be arraigned for rape and robbery within that time frame.
The March 2 hearing was attended by veteran advocates Jamala Rogers, John Chasnoff and Zaki Baruti, among others, as well as a handful of younger Ferguson protestors.
