On March 13, 2007, the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee heard testimony in favor of HB 445, sponsored by Rep. Bill Deeken (R-Jefferson City) to place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Missouri and create a commission to study the use of the death penalty.

In introducing the bill to the committee, Rep. Deeken stated that while he was not opposed to the death penalty, if he was on a jury that recommended the death penalty and found out several years later that the individual who was executed was actually innocent he would have a very difficult time living with his decision.

Kevin Green from Jefferson City, Missouri testified in favor of HB 445. He told the committee that in 1979 when he lived in the state of California, his wife was brutally attacked while she was nine months pregnant and lost their unborn child as a result of the attack. It was the first murder in 20 years in the small community where he lived. One week later another girl was killed three blocks from his home.

The Green case was assigned to a patrol officer who was summarily told that he was now a homicide detective. During this time the public was made aware that there was a serial killer prowling the streets and there was public pressure to arrest a suspect. The patrolman-turned-homicide detective concluded that Mr. Green had attacked his wife in a fashion to make it look as if the serial killer had attacked her. Two months later Mr. Green was arrested and charged with first degree murder for the death of his unborn child and attempted murder on his wife.

One year later Mr. Green’s trial began with the prosecution seeking the death penalty. Halfway through the trial the charges were lowered to second degree murder due to lack of evidence. Mr. Green was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Sixteen years after the brutal attack on his wife and the murder of his unborn daughter the real killer was found as the result of DNA technology. The real murderer confessed to the crime and the attacks on eight other women. He was eventually found guilty and sentenced to death. Had Mr. Green been convicted of first degree murder he would have received the death penalty and been executed before evidence that proved his innocence could have been revealed.

Mr. Green expressed understanding that people are human and make mistakes and that law enforcement is not immune from such events. However, Mr. Green also pointed out that as a result of these mistakes innocent people are placed behind bars while the guilty are sometimes left free to continue harming others.

Mr. Green said that there have been nine wrongful convictions in Missouri that have resulted in exonerations. Three of the exonerations were individuals on death row. Mr. Green mentioned non-death penalty cases to point out that when the system “fails at any level, it fails at all levels.”

Since the emergence of DNA testing over 100 men and women have been exonerated from death row, three of whom were in Missouri. Mr. Green stated that science has moved forward significantly in the last twenty years and that law enforcement methods is behind those scientific advances.

Redditt Hudson with the American Civil Liberties Union and a former St. Louis City police office testified in favor of the death penalty moratorium bill. Mr. Hudson said that “Our process is deeply flawed.” He said that most people believe that if a person is convicted of a crime it is that they were convicted within a system that is based on integrity, fairness, and reliability. “But that is not always the best characterization of our system,” said Mr. Hudson, “Sometimes we get it wrong.” Mr. Hudson stated that he believed that at the core of our humanity is integrity, fairness and faith. He called upon the legislators to act upon the injustices and move forward with a moratorium on the death penalty.

Matt Knuckles from St. Louis County also testified in favor of HB 445. Mr. Knuckles described how his mother had been murdered by his nephew as the result his drug addiction. He spoke of the pain his family has had to endure because of his mother’s murder and continue to suffer with his nephew being on death row. While Mr. Knuckles and his family did not believe his nephew should be released back into society, they felt that a moratorium on the death penalty was necessary. Their family was always opposed to the death penalty; however the prosecutor sought the death sentence against their wishes. The case highlights the unfettered discretion the prosecutor has in death penalty cases.

The purpose of the commission, created by HB 445, is to make recommendations for change to the laws and court rules to: ensure that the person sentenced to death is indeed guilty of first degree murder; that defendants are provided adequate resources and defense at trial and at the appellate and post-conviction stages; that race does not play an impermissible role in determining which defendents are sentenced to death; appellate and post conviction procedures are adequate to correct errors and injustices occurring at the trial level and have access to evidence for forensic testing; and prosecutors throughout the state seek the death penalty in a uniform fashion. The commission would consist of legislators, a private criminal defense attorney, a county prosecutor, a family member of a murder victim, and a family member of a person on death row. The commission would report their finding by 2011 to the Missouri Supreme Court, the governor and the General Assembly.

Rep. Jeff Roorda (D-Barnhart), a co-sponsor of the bill and 17-year-veteran of law enforcement, stated that there were enough problems within the system which needed to be addressed that warranted a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Missouri. Rep. Mark Bruns (R-Wardsville), Rep. Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis City), and Rep. Connie Johnson (D-St. Louis City), all members of the committee, also expressed their support for HB 445.

The Missouri Catholic Conference supports HB 445. At the end of the hearing the committee took no action on the bill.