Missouri's other execution

Obviously, there's been a lot of coverage about the Dennis Skillicorn execution, set for 12:01 a.m Wednesday. But the Missouri Supremes have also scheduled a date for Reginald Clemons, who will be put to death June 17. From the Post-Dispatch:

He is one of four men convicted in the murders of sisters Robin Kerry, 19, and Julie Kerry, 20, on the old Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in 1991.

The sisters, both graduates of Hazelwood East High School, were stripped, beaten and raped before they were shoved off the bridge into the Mississippi River. Their cousin, Tom Cummins, 19, was forced to watch, then ordered to jump into the river. He survived.

Comments

[spicolli]

Fry the bastard...

[Jellybean]

I remember this one clearly. The two girls had written a graffiti poem about racial harmony on the bridge - they were there to show it to the cousin, Tom. In fact, Tom was originally arrested for the murders. He's written a book about it.

The police eventually got full confessions from two of the four. One has already been executed. I hope there's noone with so much time on their hands that they're planning on lighting candles for this one.

[Jellybean]

I found a copy of the poem that the girls had written on the bridge:
"United as one, we've got to stop killing one another. You don't have to be black or white to feel prejudice. To fall in love, experience pain, create life, to kill or to die. You just have to be human."

[anyone]

It was actually Tom Cummins' sister, Jeanine, who wrote the book: A Rip in Heaven.

[Obama is the Man]

When will the two animals who kidnapped, raped, tortured, and brutally murdered Ann
Harrison be executed for their hideous crime?? When the Harrison family have justice??

I wonder how the families of death penalty opponents and judges would react if their loved -ones were victims of a brutal crime?? I bet they would demand the justice they deny others!

[KC Cicero]

Let's see: Four guys commit a brutal crime. Two are sentenced to die, one is still in prison, one has served his time. And the capital punishment folks say it is not arbitrary & capricious?

Terrible crime -- and there is no way to give justice to the families in such cases. An eye for an eye is not justice, it is vengence. It would, for a time, make us feel good to kill these guys. But that is a horrible way to determine public poicy.

And, although is confers no special qualifications for judging public policy decisions, my own father was brutally murdered. I fully understand the anger and helplessness that follows -- and the thirst for vengence. But that individual desire for vengence should not be confused with a society's need for justice.

The death penalty is bad public policy. It is not a question of what a murderer deserves to suffer. It is a question of what we deserve to be.

[Jellybean]

The two that got the death penalty are the two that pushed the girls off of the bridge. (Actually punched them off the bridge to be more exact). Another one got the death sentence but it was overturned and converted to life on appeal. The fourth, got a 30 year sentence because he was 15 years old at the time he participated in the rapes. He shouldn't be paroled as of yet.
I respect the way you feel about the death penalty. If you feel better knowing you did not become murderous yourself in order to avenge a murder - that does make sense. I don't think most of us are that mature about it. It's hard to take the idea of the scum living on and on and on after having killed someone that was so much more worthy of life.

[Rose]

Dennis Skillicorn is not yet dead. I find the Mo Supreme's Court decision to set another execution so quickly, no more than an attempt to create a 'smokescreen' on Skillicorn's last day on this Earth, and an attempt to curry favor with a Governor who was prevously one of the most PRO-DP Attorney Generals in living history.

Dennis Skillicorn is a human being who is about to be killed by the State of Missouri, and he has a family. The victims involved in the Skillicorn case, also have families. ALL these people deserve recognition for what they have lost, and what they will lose. Setting a date for another DR inmate when the blood of the last one isn't even cold, smacks of the Roman Arenas.

Some of the posts I have seen, are sacrilegious. Idiots who think that they are comedians, out to make people laugh with their wit and their 'humour'. One idiot named 'Monkeynut' who stated 'night night Rich' and was so set on his blood lust that he even confused the victim with the man who was about to be executed!

Have some dignity. We've all acknowledged that Nixon will not grant clemency. It's not in his political interests to acknowledge redemption, and he probably views Skillicorn's death as the removal of a thorn in his side. Just think how much safer you will all sleep safer in your beds, and how much political clout he can gain from this man's death. If he cared so much about the victim's he'd have acknowledged that the Drummond family needed for this to be over, before another execution was set. He's ALLOWED them to be swept under the carpet, to get the pressure off his own back.

[Chuck Rizzo]

I don't like to think of people like Dennis as "killed" by the State, I prefer the phrase put to sleep. Act like an animal get treated like an animal.

[Chip from PA]

To the idiot "Jellybean" above (whom I suspect hails from Europe):

Your attempt to equate Governor Nixon's rejection of clemency with political motives is at best naive and at worst paranoid innuendo. Skillicorn has served notice that he is unfit to walk - and yes, live - among us "human beings." Given enough years, virtually anyone can have a spiritual conversion behind bars. But that is akin to closing a barn door after the horse runs out - too little, too late. In my opinion, NO amount of remorse or good conduct can mitigate a capital murder conviction and death sentence so the notion of redemption is moot. The VICTIMS were not afforded such a luxury and neither should vermin like Skillicorn. At least afford the Drummond family members a modicum of respect and allow them the closure they deserve so they can slam the lid on this very tragic chapter of their lives! The administration of this anti-crime vaccine is long overdue...

[JoJo]

@ KC Cicero: The chances of anyone here changing their minds about anything is slim, but know that as far as Reggie Clemons' case, "the two that got the death penalty" were NOT, by anyone's theory of what happened, the ones who pushed the Kerry sisters off the bridge. In fact, by the state's theory, Marlon Gray wasn't even on the bridge when they were pushed, and no one has ever suggested that Reggie Clemons pushed them. "The fourth shouldn't be paroled yet," but he is - Daniel Winfrey is out of jail and walking around St. Louis. And, while we're at it, might as well note that the cousin Tom Cummins was arrested for the murders because, among other things, he confessed to them. Sound complicated? It is.

[Chuck]

Except that Cummins' "confession" was nothing more than him saying "You want me to say I did it? Fine, I did it" to stop the police from harassing him while in custody, and it was neither written nor taped, thus resulting in his release...not to mention that the city later settled w/him for $150K after he sued for mistreatment at the hands of the SLPD.

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