Missouri Lifeline

Volume, 10 No. 1 Winter Volu 2014

A Time for Reflection: 25 Years of Executions

By Rita Linhardt, Chair of the Board On January 6th, 1989, the state of Missouri resumed capital punishment when it executed George Mercer. This was the first execution in Missouri after it re-instated the death penalty in 1977. Twenty-five years later Missouri has executed 72 individuals, ranking the state the 5th highest in the nation in carrying out capital punishment. In this 25th anniversary year it is appropriate to reflect on our death penalty journey. Once started, executions came Wintertwo 2010months. In 1999, Pope John Paul II quickly and by the mid-90s an execution was taking place about every ignited world-wide attention on Missouri when he called for an end to the death penalty in a St. Louis visit and successfully pleaded to Governor Carnahan to commute the death sentence of a condemned inmate. It was a transforming event in the journey that energized abolitionists. The new millennium brought Missouri victories, including the passing of a bill to protect persons with mental retardation from the death penalty and the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a Missouri case banning the execution of juveniles. Thanks to legal challenges starting in 2005, Missouri had an unofficial moratorium on executions for almost five years. During these twenty-five years we have learned much about the death penalty. A body of evidence has been collected showing the death penalty is a systemically flawed system that is costly, arbitrary, racially biased, and prone to mistakes. During this quarter century, Missouri citizens have worked to end capital punishment. In the beginning people came together at vigils to protest executions. Then small groups of concerned citizens gathered in their communities to raise awareness against the death penalty. In time a loose statewide abolition coalition was formed to coordinate activities. From these efforts Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty was incorporated as a non-profit organization. Today MADP has five chapters, a network of members and is a recognized voice against the death penalty in our state. In many ways this anniversary finds a nation turning away from the death penalty. Last year Maryland became the sixth state to end capital punishment in the last six years. Nationwide, death sentences and executions continue to decline to record lows. Missouri, however, is not following the national trend. In the last four months, four executions have been carried out in our state. These executions have not come without controversy. State officials have been criticized by lawmakers and judges for their secrecy and haste to carry out executions. It came to light that Missouris execution practices included using (Continued on page 3)
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Keeping Vigil at the Apothecary Shoppe

By Susie Roling, MSW-Death Penalty Abolitionist
The idea of keeping vigil at the Apothecary Shoppe was a movement inspired by Debbie Reuscher and Cathleen Burnett. Time was of the essence for the vigil. In our minds, we had to shame the pharmacy and change minds before the Apothecary Shoppe sold Missouri the dose of pentobarbital for Michael Taylors quickly approaching scheduled execution so we could either stop or postpone the impending execution. We thought if we got enough media coverage we could shame this pharmacy into doing the "right" thing to sell medicine to help better and prolong lives, not to kill people. There was a lot of leg work done by Herbert Smulls attorneys trying to get the pharmacy not to sell the dose to Missouri. His legal team tried incredibly hard to educate the public on this pharmacy and they were critical in putting the pressure on them to stop this practice. I have been fighting the death penalty in Missouri since I was 20 years old. I am now 34. Linda Taylor (Michael Taylor's mother) has been my friend and activist with me for all these years and much before this. Linda Taylor and Debbie Reuscher are the two woman who have inspired me to dedicate a good portion of my life to this movement. While every execution hurts my heart, dims my spirit, and lessens my hope in humanity just a bit, this execution rocked my body, mind, and soul. Since Linda Taylor has been my dear friend for so long, a part of me was dreading this execution over half my life. I can speak for all of MADP when we say we offered many, many prayers for Taylor's family; yet we offered just as many for the Harrison family and for the pain, not only that they had already experienced, but also the pain that this execution held. I am saddened and frustrated that executive and legislative officials in Missouri government are letting the Department of Corrections get by with this unethical business practice of buying this drug with so much secrecy. As a citizen of Missouri and tax payer- I expect more from our state government. At the very least, I expect them to follow the laws they put in place for other businesses, which they currently are NOT doing. That cold day in Oklahoma, keeping vigil felt like it was the only thing we could do to save Michael's life. Even though it didn't end up making a difference for the Taylors, having the Apothecary Shoppe retract their agreement to sell a lethal dose was a small victory in a large fight.

Upcoming Events
April 1 MADP Lobby day at the Capitol April 3 Chapter Meeting St. Louis April 7 Chapter Meeting Springfield April 8 Chapter Meeting Columbia April 22 Chapter Meeting St. Joseph June 14 MADP Annual Meeting For more information about these events and updates to our events calendar, visit www.madpmo.org

In Remembrance of
Gerald Gordon, Richard Drummond, Joseph and Charlene Babcock, Stephen Honickman, Ann Harrison and all the other victims of violence in our society. Joseph Paul Franklin, executed Nov. 20, 2013. Allen Nicklasson, executed December 11, 2013. Herbert Smulls, executed January 29, 2014. Michael A. Taylor, executed February 26, 2014.

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Legislative Update Legislative Update

Consultant

By Stack, MADP Legislative Consultant By Jeff Jeff Stack, MADP Legislative The legislative session is now in full swing and we are working hard on several bills to both abolish the death penalty and limit its scope. House Bill (HB) 1524, Senate Bill (SB) 775 and HB 1240 have all been introduced as bills that would repeal the death penalty.

Join us for Lobby Day on Tuesday, April 1st!

10 am, House Hearing Room #2, Basement of the Capitol

As you have hopefully seen, the media has recently been RSVP to Jeff at 573-449-4585 or highlighting the secrecy around Missouris execution protocol including the use of an out of state un-regulated pharmacy to produce jeff@madpmo.org execution drugs. In response to this secrecy, several bills have been introduced in the Legislature to provide more oversight and review of the states procedures. These include: HB 1409 and SB 787 both of which institute a one-year execution moratorium while a commissionunder HB 1409studies the states lethal injection protocol. SB 787s commission would establish execution protocols; SB 753 and HB 1951 would direct the State Auditor to conduct a comparative cost study of the death penalty and an equal number of non-capital murder cases; HB 1737 which would provide legislative oversight for the execution protocol; and SB 804 which would increase public scrutiny of execution procedures.

Three billsSB 775, SB 787 and SB 804 will receive a public hearing Wednesday, March 12th before the Progress and Development Committee (as this newsletter goes to press). Finally, we are also excited about Senate Bill 732 which would require several reforms to criminal procedure in the state including: standardizing eyewitness identification procedures, expanding the possibility of examining DNA evidence and requiring law-enforcement officials to make a good-faith effort to keep equipment in working condition for recording custodial interrogations. If implemented, these reforms would decrease the likelihood of false convictions. This bill received a good hearing in early March and we are awaiting next steps. We need your help advancing these bills. Join us for our Lobby Day on April 1st. If you cant join us, check www.madpmo.org/content/legislative-update and watch your email for updates.

Reflection (cont)
an unlicensed Oklahoma pharmacy to obtain drugs and that executions were carried out before the courts had finished their judicial review. All this attention has shown the deceptive, political nature of the death penalty system and that it has no place in our modern society. So as we mark this 25th anniversary we realize that our struggle to end capital punishment still continues. State officials seem determined to resume executions with regularity. So we must make sure that our opposition is felt. We need to continue our education efforts wherever we can and to recruit people to our cause. Legislators need to hear our concerns and we need to support those who are with us on this issue. Above all, we must not lose hope. Our cause is a just and moral one. Someday victory will be ours.

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MADP Adds St. Joseph Chapter

By Jean Swymeler, St. Joseph Chapter Leader We got press coverage at our first vigil. At our last vigil at LeBlond High School we got KQ-TV coverage. LeBlond has also let us use their marquee to advertise our vigils. Our Chapter Meetings have been held at St. Francis Xavier Church. However, we have gotten on the East Hills Public Library calendar and will have our March and April meetings there. Hopefully we will be able to bring in more of a cross section of the population by having our meetings in a non -denominational setting. Please pass the word and mark your calendars our next Chapter meetings will be: March 25, at 6:30 at East Hills Public Library basement April 22, at 6:30 at East Hills Public Library basement

St. Joseph became a chapter at the December 7th Missouri State board meeting. We have 10-15 people who are very faithful at attending our Chapter meetings. Our vigils at first were held downtown with around 15 people in attendance. We later moved our vigils to LeBlond High School for more visibility. Those vigils have been bringing in around 40 people. The students have taken part in the vigils as observers at first and then later as active participants. Fliers were passed out at these vigils along with buttons for the students participating to wear. One student's reply was "cool" when I handed him the button that said. "Thou Shalt Not Kill!!!!!.any questions?" We are hoping that student awareness will help to bring in parents of students and others in the community.

Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty 6320 Brookside Plaza Suite 185 Kansas City MO 64113

Prefer to get this newsletter electronically? Let us know by emailing info@madpmo.org