News Conference Tuesday, May 11:
AmnesAmnesty International Set to Release New Report on Reginald Clemons’ Prosecution and Sentencing; Findings Show Disturbing Flaws and Racism in Missouri Case Against African American

Reginald Clemons  

Report to be Released at 11 a.m., Old Municipal Courthouse

(St. Louis, Mo.) -- Amnesty International USA national leaders will convene a news conference on Tuesday, May 11, in St. Louis to release the findings of its new investigation into the 1993 prosecution and sentencing of Reginald Clemons, which examines disturbing flaws in the case and questions of racial bias. Amnesty International will be joined at the news conference by Clemons' mother, Vera Thomas, and Missouri civil rights leaders and activists, including the Justice for Reggie Campaign, the ACLU, and the NAACP.

The press conference will take place at 11 a.m. central time on the front steps of the Old Municipal Courthouse, 1300 Market Street.
Release of the report,  titled Death by Prosecutorial Misconduct and a 'Stacked Jury,' will launch Amnesty International's campaign to see justice served in the Clemons case.

Amnesty International speakers will include: Jamal Watkins, Midwest Director, and Laura Moye, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign Director.

Other invited leaders and activists include: Jamala Rogers, coordinator, Justice for Reggie Campaign; Redditt Hudson of the ACLU; Donnie Morehouse of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; and Mary Ratliff, President of the Missouri State NAACP.

Amnesty International leaders are expected to visit Clemons on death row in Mineral Point, Missouri, days before release of the report.

Clemons, who is African American, was sentenced to death as an accomplice in the murders of Julie Kerry, 20, and her sister, Robin, 19, both white, who died after falling from a bridge into the Mississippi River in April 1991.  Clemons was 19 at the time.  Now 37, he has spent most of his adult life on death row, convicted on the testimony of two white men -- one a suspect and the other a defendant -- both of whom are now free.  One other defendant in the case, also African American, has been executed.

No physical evidence ties Clemons to the deaths, nor is there any eyewitness testimony against him. The prosecution conceded that Clemons neither killed the sisters, nor planned the crime.
The lack of physical evidence in the Clemons conviction has drawn comparisons to the Troy Davis death penalty case in Georgia, which is being reopened under Supreme Court mandate.  Amnesty International has been campaigning to have the Davis case reexamined.
WHAT: Amnesty International news conference about Reginald Clemons case
WHO: Amnesty International leaders and representatives of Missouri civil rights organizations, activists and Clemons mother
WHERE: Front Steps, Old Municipal Courthouse, 1300 Market St., St. Louis
WHEN: Tuesday, May 11, 11 a.m., central time
To learn more about Amnesty International's campaign to abolish the death penalty, please visit: www.amnestyusa.org/abolish

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide.  The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
Please visit www.amnestyusa.org for more information.