Program on Death Penalty Challenge
An informational program on the forthcoming federal civil rights action challenging the Missouri death penalty on the basis of its effects on the families at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 13 at Christ Church Cathedral’s Schuyler Hall, 1210 Locust Street (13th & Locust) in downtown St. Louis. There will be a PowerPoint presentation by Attorney John Simon and a panelist of family members familiar with having a loved one on death row (Paula Skillicorn, Mary Mifflin, and Lillie Cole). This event is free and open to the public.

Opportunities for Petition Signatures
Volunteers are needed to cover events like the Annie Malone Parade this Sunday (May 16) and the African Arts Festival (May 28-31). At the Festival, the Campaign will have a table telling Reggie’s tee shirts and buttons so we need supporters to sign up for shifts during the 4 days.

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

Courtesy of my decades-long friend, Mike Kinman–now chief clergyman under our bishop at Christ Church (Episcopal) Cathedral, 13th & Locust in downtown St. Louis–there will be an informational program on the next major challenge to the death penalty as we know it in the Cathedral’s Schuyler Hall on THURSDAY, MAY 13, at 7:30 p.m.

There will be a PowerPoint presentation detailing how the State of Missouri’s death penalty violates the rights of families against whose members the state seeks the death penalty.

Panelists will include family members of men against whom the state has sought the death penalty.

The program is free; but Partners Against State Violence & Racism
(PSVR) is seeking contributions to cover neutral expert witnesses and other costs of the litigation.

For more details, see the article linked to my Facebook page, the late Prof. Rachel C. King’s “No Due Process: How the Death Penalty Violates the Constitutional Rights of Family Members of Death Row Prisoners, Berkeley Electronic Press (2006).
Panel Presentation: Death Penalty Lawsuit

Very truly yours,

JOHN WILLIAM SIMON, J.D., Ph.D.
Constitutional Advocacy, LLC
2683 South Big Bend Blvd., Suite 12
St. Louis, Missouri 63143-2100

Sunday, May 9
The Clergy Coalition is hosting a Mother’s Day Service of Thanksgiving at Lane Tabernacle CME Church at 7:00 p.m. Film Maker and Public Speaker Reggie Bullock, the producer of “WAR FOR YOUR SOUL” will be the Keynote Speaker. Vera Thomas will be a special honoree. This event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, May 11
Join us in welcoming the national reps from Amnesty International as they release their report on Reggie’s case entitled USA: Model criminal justice? Death by prosecutorial misconduct and a ‘stacked’ jury. The press conference will be at 11:00 am on the steps of the old Municipal Courts Building, 14th & Market.

Thursday, May 13
An informational program on the forthcoming federal civil rights action challenging the Missouri death penalty on the basis of its effects on the families will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, at Christ Church Cathedral’s Schuyler Hall, 1210 Locust Street (13th & Locust) in downtown St. Louis. There will be a PowerPoint presentation by Attorney John Simon and a panelist of family members familiar with having a loved one on death row (Paula Skillicorn, Mary Mifflin, and Lillie Cole). This event is free and open to the public.

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

11:30 am-1:30 pm March and rally for Human & Immigration Rights from the Convention Center to Park.
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm Street Festival on Ohio Avenue at Cherokee Street

*****************5000 signatures by May 10**************

Mother’s Day Event
The Clergy Coalition will sponsor Mother’s Day Service of Thanksgiving at Lane Tabernacle CME Church at 7:00 pm. Vera Thomas will be the special honoree. The keynote speaker is filmmaker Reggie Bullock, the producer of WAR FOR YOUR SOUL. The film presentation will be shown at 6:00 p.m.

Road Tour
Thanks to Jeff Stack and the Columbia chapter of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (MADP) for hosting Borrowed Time at the Ragtag Cinema on Monday. An enlightened discussion followed the documentary.

On to Kansas City
On Wednesday, the students in Cathy Burnett’s class presented a mock hearing of Reggie’s case as their final grade for the semester. The defense and prosecution sides presented their cases so well that former Judge Jon Gray passed on making a ruling, instead applauding their presentations and stating that the case is a difficult one.

Later that evening, Gray and Jamala joined Alvin Brooks in a panel discussion about the impact of race and the media on a case like Reggie’s. The trio responded to questions from the audience. The event was sponsored by the KC MADP chapter.

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

Also Jeff Stack will be facilitating back to back showings of the documentary at the State Capitol on Tuesday, April 28 from 1:00 -4:00 pm in Hearing Room 2. Encourage your legislator to take some time out and check out whatever he/she can.

Volunteers Needed
The Campaign will be collecting signatures at the May 1 Rally for Human Rights sponsored by the United Methodist Women. The rally will be from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm in downtown St. Louis. Please let us know if you are available. Thousands are expected and we need a good-sized crew.

Reminders!
*MADP will host their Spotlight Award Dinner this Saturday to honor Attorney John Simon. It’s not too late to get tickets. Email TC@madpmo.org.
*There will no May 10th hearing by the Special Master on Reggie’s case. We will let you know when a new date has been confirmed.

Bianca Jagger’s Speech
Last month, we mentioned Bianca Jagger’s speech before the 4th Annual Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva and how she included Reggie’s case in her presentation. We have finally secured Bianca’s audio speech at the opening ceremony of the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty. It can be found at: http://vimeo.com/groups/feminista/videos/10112102.

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

April
19 – Join a conversation with Reggie on the Bernie Hayes show at 7:00 am on WGNU AM.
20 - Jamala will be a guest on Columbia’s WKOS at 8:15 am.
24 - Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty will hold their Spotlight Award dinner program. The event will be held at 100 N. Jefferson, St. Louis. Attorney John Simon will be the honoree. Reggie’s literature will be distributed. For more info, contact tc@madpmo.org.
27 - Borrowed Time will be shown at the Rag Time Theater House at 5:30 pm in Columbia.
28 - Students at University of Missouri @ Kansas City will perform a mock hearing on Reggie’s case at Noon. Later that evening, Jamala will be a panelist at a forum that evening from 5:30-7:00 pm
28 - Borrowed Time documentary will be shown in the Capitol Building in Jefferson City from 1:00-4:00 pm, Hearing Room 2.

There are upcoming activities in May includes a May Day Rally and a Mother’s Day event sponsored by the Clergy Coalition. Details are forthcoming.

Remember, we have a goal of 5000 signatures by May 10 so please take your petition form wherever you go.

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

We are late with our weekly update because the Campaign needed to wait to see what was happening with the latest legal development. Because of the newly “found” rape kit, the Special Master, Judge Manner, will reset the May 10 hearing date until DNA testing has been done. We will keep you posted on both the DNA test results and the new hearing date.

In light of the hearing date change, certain planned activities will be reviewed. However, we are moving forward with reaching our goal of 5000 additional signatures for Reggie’s petitions by May 10. Students will continue to collect signatures on campuses and supporters will be collecting at community events and places of worship.

Campaign Newsletter
A special thanks goes to the crew who came last evening to work on getting the mailings out. The annual newsletter is published each year to chronicle the Campaign happenings for the prior year. The 2009 newsletter features the Year of the Fightback and all the efforts put in to stop Reggie’s execution. If you don’t get your newsletter within the next week, let us know as it may mean you are not in our database.

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

Volunteers are also needed on Monday, March 29, 2010 to help with mailing out Reggie’s newsletter. We will meet at 7:00 pm at the Rowan Community Center, 1401 Rowan Avenue (63112). The more volunteers, the faster the mailing. Light refreshments will be served.

New Petition Signature Goal
Currently, we have 20,000 signatures of people who believe Reggie’s case has not received the fair and impartial investigation by the Governor’s office. From now until the May 10 hearing, we want to collect 5000 signatures for his clemency petition. More and more people are hearing about the case and we have many potential signatures just waiting for us. 5000 new signatures–we can do this!!

April 3-4 is Reggie Clemons Day
The Campaign has declared April 3 and 4 as Reggie Day. As you know, the Chain of Rocks Bridge incident happened on April 4, 1991. We ask faith leaders to incorporate Reggie’s case in their message or to say a special prayer for him, others on Death Row, and the families of both the victims and the convicted. For lay people, take the request to your spiritual leader to lift up Reggie’s case during this Easter weekend. Please let us know if your church or synagogue is participating and we will list them on the website. Don’t forget to collect signatures!

Lobby Day
Thanks to all the Reggie supporters who rallied and lobbied with us in the Capitol last week. Some of you even wore your Reggie tee-shirts. Let’s stay on top of the legislators to get a bill out this session.

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

“I am currently supporting the campaign for clemency for Reggie Clemons, a 38 year-old African-American man sentenced to death in Missouri after an unfair trial biased in favour of execution… “

(read the entire speech) http://www.coe.int/t/dc/press/source/20100226_disc_bianca_jagger.doc

Forest Park Community College
The Law Club, the ACLU and Justice for Reggie did Part I today at the college as students attentively watched Borrowed Time, the documentary.

We will return tomorrow (Tuesday, March 2) for a panel discussion in the Highlander Lounge at 11 am. The event is free and open to the public.

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

On Tuesday, March 2, 2010 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, there will be a discussion on Borrowed Time. The discussion will take place in the Highlander Lounge as well.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Legislative
There are a few seats left on the bus going to Jefferson City for Lobby Day. The event is March 17, 2010 and is sponsored by the Moratorium Now! Coalition. Call if you are interested in going. Contact TC Parsons at 314-556-9267 for more information or to reserve your bus seat.

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