St. Louis Observer: January 6, 2023
St. Louis Observer: January 6, 2023
Missouri executes Amber McLaughlin; freedom from wrongful conviction TBD for Lamar Johnson; unhoused St. Louisans sue state over tent law; guaranteed basic income pilot program coming to SLPS families
Editor’s Note
The new year started somberly when the State of Missouri executed Amber McLaughlin, the first transgender woman in U.S. history to receive the death sentence. If you’re thinking, “didn’t Missouri just have an execution,” you would be correct - the state executed Kevin Johnson on November 29. Their sentences - executed less than 45 days apart - both came from the same prosecuting attorney and both had procedural flaws within each conviction.
But Missouri’s legal lynching - the first nationwide in 2023 - didn’t end with Amber’s execution: the state also plans to execute Leonard “Raheem” Taylor on February 7. Raheem’s conviction and sentence came from St. Louis County. Also by the same prosecutor, notorious for racist treatment and prejudicial behavior. Raheem’s case also included police misconduct. Three people will be violently and horrifically murdered in our names, in a little more than two months.
The death penalty is not - and can never be - justice. The bloodthirsty state of Missouri has shown itself as untrustworthy when it comes to ensuring a fair process.
Because of that well-documented history of unjust executions, The St. Louis Observer calls for the end of the death penalty in Missouri in 2023. Achieving this goal doesn’t have to include the state legislature.
Elected circuit attorneys can choose whether to seek capital punishment within their jurisdictions. St. Louis County’s elected prosecutor, Wesley Bell, has declined to pursue the death penalty since taking office. Although St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner ran on a platform that included declining to use the death penalty, she has since violated that pledge and has pursued capital cases during her time in office. Even “progressive prosecutor” Jean Peters Baker in Kansas City has used the death penalty during her administration.
But each and every one of these elected officials has exercised a choice: an intentional decision to pursue the death penalty - or to not pursue it. County prosecutors hold that exclusive power. The literal power over life and death.
The choice is difficult, but opposing capital punishment has never been easier for prosecutors. There are anti-death penalty prosecutor professional organizations. A bipartisan network, Fair and Just Prosecution, has formed to promote There was even a 2-year study analyzing the death penalty in Missouri and calling for a moratorium on executions so that death row cases could be assessed for procedural defects, like those found in Kevin’s, Amber’s, and Raheem’s convictions.
Missouri has 115 elected prosecuting attorneys, and one has already, bravely, stood up to state-sponsored murder. In 2023, we would love to see one or two, or a hundred, more join him.
Police, prosecutorial, and judicial accountability
St. Louis City Judge David Mason is still reviewing the evidence presented in Lamar Johnson’s wrongful conviction case, and he has not yet set a date to announce his decision. Johnson has been incarcerated since 1994 for the murder of his friend, Marcus Boyd, although two other men admitted to shooting Boyd. Mason intends to announce his decision at a public hearing. Mason said last month, “[t]his is all new. We want to look at this carefully. We want to get this right. This is not to be done cavalierly because there’s so much at stake. And then I’ll be able to make a ruling.” [Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent]
The Missouri Department of Corrections has been ordered by a judge to pay $2 million in a sexual harassment case filed by a nurse employed at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. The two corrections officers involved, including a sergeant, were allowed to return to work. The plaintiff settled part of her lawsuit against Corizon Health, the private corporation that previously provided medical services for Missouri prisons. [Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent]
An assessment three months after an explosive report on private policing has shown that there have been no changes made in the effort to reign in the abusive practices. The city has said that funding is needed to hire a consultant to study the department’s moonlighting policy and the disparities that arise because of the private policing system. The new police chief Robert Tracy will begin his tenure on Monday. [Jeremy Kohler/ProPublica]
Gov. Mike Parson has selected yet another person as Missouri’s attorney general. Andrew Bailey was sworn into office on Tuesday after previously serving as general counsel for the embattled Missouri Department of Corrections. Bailey was first hired in 2014 as an assistant attorney general, and he has publicly committed to continuing the legacy of his predecessors - Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt - of filing meritless, taxpayer-funded lawsuits. Bailey’s swearing-in ceremony was protested by anti-death penalty activists who called attention to the State’s execution of Amber McLaughlin later that day. [Sarah Kellog/St. Louis Public Radio; Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent]
Economic development and housing
A group of unhoused St. Louisans has filed a lawsuit against the State of Missouri to block enforcement of a new law that, among other terrible things, criminalizes sleeping on state-owned property and mandates that cities enforce the state law, at the risk of intervention by the Attorney General. The law also prohibits cities and the state from allocating any funding to permanent housing, the Housing First model, which is the only proven method to solving the issue of homelessness. [Ryan Krull and Monica Obradovic/Riverfront Times; Sarah Kellogg/St. Louis Public Radio]
On December 28, Mayor Tishaura Jones signed into law a new guaranteed basic income (GBI) pilot program that will distribute $500 per month to 440 St. Louis Public Schools families for 18 months. Participants must be at or below 170% of the federal poverty level. The bill also directs $2 million to the Bureau of Behavioral Health to address substance abuse and $14.86 million to the Department of Human Services for emergency rental assistance, senior services, and housing stabilization.[Monica Obradovic/Riverfront Times]
Beyond the Paywall
To read the below articles in full, please visit SLPL.org and access these articles through the Digital Content tab. St. Louis City & County residents can read these publications free using their library cards.
“Missouri refuses to disclose source of drugs used to execute prisoners,” by Katie Moore, The Kansas City Star
“Ex-Florissant detective gets probation for hitting fleeing man with SUV,” by Erin Heffernan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“UMSL addiction science group plans to at least double overdose reversal kits,” by Katie Kull, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Pointing to flaw in Missouri death penalty, judges ask to stop execution,” by Katie Moore, The Kansas City Star
“St. Louis County judge stepping down for job with new attorney general,” by Kurt Erickson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Group of unhoused people in St. Louis file suit to block new homelessness law,” by Katie Kull, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Legislative Update
St. Louis City Board of Aldermen
Board Bill 116, sponsored by Ald. Shameem Clark Hubbard (Ward 26), would, among other things, delegate a portion of the City’s remaining ARPA funds to create a universal basic income pilot program. The bill was passed by the full board and delivered to the Register’s Office on December 19.
Board Bill 64, sponsored by Ald. Shane Cohn (Ward 25), would establish “transparent, standardized, and beneficial policies and procedures” for considering development proposals before the Board of Aldermen. The bill was heard by the Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning Committee on December 15.
Resolution 9, introduced by Ald. Sharon Tyus (Ward 1), would call for the investigation of the Board of Adjustment, Building Division, Public Safety Department (including SLMPD), and other departments that allow “nuisance and unsafe homes and businesses” specifically in North St. Louis. Tyus’ bill targets shelters and group homes providing services to unhoused St. Louisans. The bill was held in Public Safety Committee on December 14.
Learn more about how a bill becomes a City ordinance.
Track these board bills and much more on St. Louis PoliticClips’ dashboard.