It's been a controversial case for nearly two decades. Recent developments only add to the questions.
Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, "St. Louis police say they had Clemons evidence all along," by Christine Byers.
Lawyers in the Chain of Rocks Bridge murder case may or may not have seen rape-kit evidence, but it was always available from the Police Department, Chief Dan Isom insisted Tuesday.
A letter from Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's office, made public Monday, said the prosecutor of Reginald Clemons did not recall seeing the material, and that meant defense lawyers probably hadn't seen it either.
What, if anything, the evidence would show is either not known or not revealed. The letter makes reference to three lab reports plus physical evidence that includes a rape examination of a victim who floated 297 miles down the Mississippi River for three weeks before being recovered.
Advocates for Clemons, who has long protested his innocence, have heralded the news as a potential breakthrough. His death sentence was already on hold pending review of his case by a special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court.
And:
Koster's office is asking the special master, Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Manners, to set a hearing on whether the material should be retested, and how.
Of the others convicted in the killings, Marlin Gray was executed, Antonio Richardson is serving life in prison without parole and Daniel Winfrey was paroled in 2007 from a 30-year prison term.
Yesterday's Post-Dispatch carried, "Evidence gap is found in killings of two sisters," by Heather Ratcliffe.
Lawyers who defended Reginald Clemons in the murder of two young women thrown from the Chain of Rocks Bridge may not have seen all the evidence police gathered, but it is unclear whether that will matter to his conviction.
The case against Clemons, who is under a death sentence, was already being reviewed by a judge appointed as "special master" by the Missouri Supreme Court.
On Monday, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's office sent a letter to the special master and Clemons' current defense lawyers, regarding three lab test reports and physical evidence. Included in that evidence is a "rape kit" ostensibly taken from a victim whose body was recovered in the Mississippi River after three weeks.
There was no indication of what the material shows or whether it could bolster Clemons' claim of innocence.
"Chief: Police turned over evidence in 1991 case," is the AP filing, via KOAM-TV.
St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom says evidence in a 1991 double homicide that put a man on death row was always available to attorneys on both sides of the case.
The state attorney general's office said Monday that it may have found new lab reports and physical evidence in the case against Reginald Clemons. The prosecutor in the case says he was unaware of the evidence.
Isom said the evidence was in the St. Louis police crime lab for years, and was turned over to attorneys in the case nearly two decades ago.
At MissouriNet, Bob Priddy posts, "Anti-death penalty advocates say Clemons case raises questions."
The discovery of long-hidden evidence in a 19-year old murder case fuels hopes of death penalty opponents that the state will declare a moratorium on executions for two years. Reginald Clemons, Marlin Gray, and two others were convicted in 1993 of the rapes and murders of two St. Louis sisters who were thrown off a St. Louis bridge into the Mississippi River. Gray was executed five years ago. Clemons would have been executed last June but a stay was issued and a special judge is reviewing the case.
A few days ago, three lab reports and some physical evidence was discovered in the St. Louis police crime lab and says the evidence had been disclosed to the defense.
Executive Director Donnie Morehouse of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty says the discovery nine months after Clemons was supposed to die carries a message. “What has been going on and why has that evidence been sitting there and why has it not come forward and why it’s just now at this time come forward. I think those are questions legislators should be asking,” he says.
An earlier reference to the Clemons case is in this post.
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