[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO.

[Rick Halperin]

April 8




MISSOURI:

EXECUTION SET, MENTAL DISABILITY AND RACE ISSUES

Andre Cole, a 53-year-old African American man, is scheduled to be executed in 
Missouri on 14 April.
He was sentenced to death in 2001 by an all-white jury. His lawyers say that 
his mental health has
steadily and seriously deteriorated over recent years.

View the full Urgent Action, including case information, addresses and sample 
messages, here.

Anthony Curtis was stabbed to death on 21 August 1998 at the home of Andre 
Cole’s former wife (they
had divorced in 1995). She was also stabbed in the confrontation, but survived. 
At Anthony Cole’s
trial in 2001, the jury sentenced him to death for the murder of Anthony Curtis 
and to three life
terms for assault.

The St Louis County jury consisted of 12 white people after the prosecutor 
dismissed three African
Americans from the jury pool. Challenged to give a “race neutral” explanation 
for his summary
dismissal of one of the three, the prosecutor said it was because the 
individual was divorced and,
as such, would be sympathetic to the defendant. The prosecution theory was that 
there had been a
“great deal of animosity” between Andre Cole and his wife, but it did not even 
question the would-be
juror about the circumstances of his own divorce. The man concerned has since 
said that he had been
divorced for 10 years by the time of the trial, and that his divorce involved 
no animosity. In
addition, the prosecution did not dismiss a divorced white man who was paying 
child support at the
time of the trial. Yet the prosecution’s central theory was that the murder had 
occurred after Andre
Cole broke into his former wife’s home in anger about his child support 
situation. A black woman
selected as an alternate juror (in case of a juror having to withdraw) later 
described in a sworn
statement how the 12 white jurors made racist comments about Andre Cole in her 
presence, comments
she described as “blatant in terms of racial bias”.

According to Andre Cole’s lawyers, in recent years he has reported having 
auditory hallucinations,
specifically hearing voices through the prison intercom system, the telephone, 
and his television
set. A psychiatrist has opined that Andre Cole has “prominent symptoms of 
psychosis” and suffers
from “gross delusions” which prevent his rational understanding of the reason 
for and reality of his
punishment.

Anthony Curtis’s mother opposes the execution, as does Andre Cole’s ex-wife, 
who says that the
execution would be “devastating” to her and their children. One of their sons 
has said: “although I
am still angry about the attack against my mom, and am struggling to forgive my 
father, I do not
want to see my father executed. If my father is executed, it will be 
devastating to my mother, my
auntie, my uncle, my brother and to the rest of my dad’s family”.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

In 2013 President Barack Obama acknowledged the “history of racial disparities 
in the application of
our criminal laws”, including on the death penalty, and US Attorney General 
Eric Holder pointed to
the need to “confront the reality” that “people of color often face harsher 
punishments than their
peers.” On 29 August 2014, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial 
Discrimination again called
on the US authorities to “take concrete and effective steps to eliminate racial 
disparities at all
stages of the criminal justice system” and called for a moratorium on 
executions with a view to
abolition. Study after study has shown that race plays a part in who is 
sentenced to death. In 2012,
the American Bar Association issued its findings on Missouri, noting research 
indicating that racial
factors influence prosecutorial and juror decision-making in capital cases in 
the state.

View the full Urgent Action here.

Name: Andre Cole (m)
Issues: Death penalty, Legal concern, Health concern
UA: 79/15
Issue Date: 8 April 2015
Country: USA

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!

EITHER send a short email to uan at aiusa.org with "UA 79/15" in the subject line, 
and include in the
body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent.

OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.

Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office 
if sending appeals
after the below date. If you receive a response from a government official, 
please forward it to us
at uan at aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please write immediately in English or your own language:
  *  Calling for Andre Cole’s execution to be stopped and his death sentence 
commuted;
  *  Expressing concern that Andre Cole was tried by an all-white jury after the 
prosecutor removed
     the remaining three black prospective jurors, and at other evidence of 
racial bias in St Louis
     County capital cases;
  *  Noting evidence that Andre Cole’s mental disability prevents his rational 
understanding of his
     punishment;
  *  Explaining that you are not seeking to downplay the seriousness of the 
crime or its
     consequences.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 14 APRIL 2015 TO:

Office of Governor Jay Nixon
P.O. Box 720, Jefferson City, MO 65102, USA Fax: 573 751 1495
Email: via website http://governor.mo.gov/contact/ Salutation: Dear Governor


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UA Network Office AIUSA │600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003
T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. uan at aiusa.org │amnestyusa.org/urgent

(source: Amnesty International USA)