Campaign Update - Week of 04/07/2008

Campaign 1515
The American Civil Liberties Union will host a reception on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 6:00 pm for those who have submitted the designated 15 petitions. A press conference is being scheduled that day bring attention to Reggie’s case and the impending US Supreme Court decision on lethal injection.

The Campaign 1515 asks supporters to collect signatures to recognize the 15th year of Reggie’s conviction in the Chain of Rocks tragedy. You can represent your family, your church, your organization or just yourself and collect 15 completed sheets of signatures for Reggie’s clemency. The deadline for turning sheets in has been extended to April 15.

HB 1870
From all accounts, the April 1 public hearing for the moratorium bill went well. The proof is in the committee vote. This bill had 13 Republican and 44 Democrat sponsors—pretty impressive for this kind of legislature. Let’s create some buzz by contacting your state rep and letting him/her know that you support HB 1870. Also contact your friends in the state and tell them to do the same.

Bridge Anniversary postponed due to flooding and construction
Next week we hope to have a new date for an anniversary event.

Good news on the national scene…

Missouri was the subject of a recent Arizona Legal Studies paper on capital murder case. The report, “Life and Death Decisions: Prosecutorial Discretion and Capital Punishment in Missouri,” studied 1046 homicide cases and concluded that that geography and race are determining factors for who gets the death penalty. The entire report can be downloaded here.

Glen Edward Chapman, a North Carolina man who was sentenced to death for two 1992 murders, was released from death row on April 2. Chapman is the 128th inmate exonerated from death row. Charges were dropped after a new trial was grant in 2007 because of weak evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective defense counsel, etc. (sound familiar?).

Maryland lawmakers recently voted to create a commission to study the state’s death penalty.

A judge in New Mexico has barred the state from seeking the death penalty because the legislature has not provided sufficient funding for defense representation. The legislature failed to do so during their legislative session which ended in February.

Let’s keep the pressure on! Join death penalty opponents across the country working to make the death penalty history.

“Enough Already!”
Jamala Rogers, Coordinator
JUSTICE for Reggie Campaign
P. O. Box 5277
St. Louis, MO 63115
(314) 367-5959
www.justiceforreggie.com