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The Death Penalty in Missouri is Flawed
- Execution of Juveniles: Missouri allows executions as young as 16 years old. Though the Missouri legislature is considering raising the execution age to 18 (SB819), it will not save the life of Missouri inmate Christopher Simmons, 17 at the time of the crime, who is scheduled to be executed on May 1. Juveniles are not deemed fit to vote, to serve in the armed forces or to sign a contract, yet our state deems them fit to execute.
- Judge Can Impose Death Even If Jury Doesn't Agree: In Missouri, a judge can impose a death sentence even if the jury cannot agree on the sentence.
- Law Limits Appeals: After the initial appeal, a court can not reexamine a case unless there is new evidence that could not been gathered at the time of the trial through the use of due diligence. This prevents a judge from considering new evidence in cases like Joe Amrine's, where the witnesses against him have now all recanted and stated that they were coerced to testify against him. This prevents someone with incompetent counsel from bringing in new evidence, even if it could exonerate him, if it would have been possible for that attorney to have found the information.
- No Right to Legal Representation: After the initial appeal, an inmate is not entitled to legal representation to pursue further appeals
- Racial Disparity: Studies show that race and poverty play a substantial role in death sentences. Nearly half of those on Missouri's death row are African American, though blacks make up just 11% of the state population. Most of Missouri death cases involve white victims. Moreover, a national study found that nearly 98% of prosecutors nationwide are white and in Missouri, 100% of prosecutors are white. Race is also an important factor on juries - a University of Missouri study found that if no member of the defendant's race serves on the jury, the defendant is 20 times more likely to get death.
- Prosecutorial Discretion: Prosecutors have unlimited discretion to determine when to seek death in an eligible case. Studies have found broad disparities in capital prosecutions from county to county, and concluded that prosecutorial discretion plays the largest factor in getting a death sentence. The prosecutors in each of Missouri's 116 counties develop their own systems for deciding death, with widely varying results. In Missouri, prosecutors are not required to report the disposition of these cases so there is no way to compare or hold prosecutors accountable for questionable decisions.
Proportionality Review: When a defendant alleges arbitrary application of the death penalty, Missouri law requires the court to compare his case with other death cases, but instead of comparing it to the entire universe of death-penalty eligible cases, state law allows the court to look only at cases in which death is imposed. This prevents the court from addressing racial or demographic disparities in the application of the death penalty
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