[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MISSOURI

[Rick Halperin]

EXECUTION ALERT



Stop the execution of a wrongfully convicted man, Kimber Edwards

To be killed by the State of Missouri on October 6, 2015



Kimber Edwards was sentenced to death for the August 22, 2000 murder of his 
ex-wife, Kimberly
Cantrell. The actual shooter, Orthell Wilson, lied to police several times, 
even saying the victim
was a complete stranger he’d been hired to kill. Orthell Wilson’s later 
admission that victim
Kimberly Cantrell was actually his girlfriend is substantiated by several 
neighbors who witnessed
the two together as a couple on multiple occasions.



  1. False Testimony
  2. Coerced Confession
  3. Prosecutorial Misconduct



I. In 2015, Orthell Wilson signed a sworn affidavit that he acted alone in 
killing his girlfriend
Kimberly Cantrell. The couple often fought over Orthell’s drug addiction and 
constant need for
money. It’s what their heated argument was about on August 22, 2000, the day 
Orthell shot Kimberly
to death, unintentionally, in the heat of the moment.



This truth makes sense given the re-enactment of the crime police did with 
Orthell Wilson at the
apartment where Kimberly was murdered. On the way to the scene, Orthell grew 
visibly distraught;
police had to pull over to calm him down. Inside the apartment, Orthell “fell 
to the floor upset and
crying.” This behavior is not consistent with murder for hire of a total 
stranger. It is completely
consistent with an unintended shooting of a lover. One part of Orthell’s 
version of events is
plausible: Kimberly was startled, she screamed, Orthell panicked, and the gun 
went off.



In the interrogation room in 2000, Orthell Wilson was panicked for a different 
reason – he could
face a death sentence for murdering Kimberly Cantrell. Police already had their 
suspect - Kimberly
Cantrell’s ex-husband Kimber Edwards whom they’d fingered as soon as they found 
Kimberly’s body. So
they offered Orthell Wilson a life sentence if he handed them Kimber Edwards. 
So he did. Orthell
Wilson told police that Kimber Edwards hired him to kill Kimberly Cantrell.



But after Kimber Edwards was wrongly convicted for this murder, Orthell Wilson 
felt bad. He stepped
forward to set the record straight, but Kimber Edwards’ attorneys did nothing 
in response to
Orthell’s recantation.  Not until 2015 has Orthell Wilson’s truth been recorded 
in a sworn format,
an affidavit. In it, he states, “Kimber Edwards is completely innocent.” Kimber 
Edwards never asked
Orthell to harm Kimberly Cantrell. Orthell Wilson acted alone.



2.  The only other “evidence” against Kimber Edwards is his own statement to 
police. But that
statement was also coerced. Reflexively targeting him, police took Kimber 
Edwards and his current
wife and two small children to the station, putting the children in a separate 
squad car from their
parents. For seven hours of interrogation, Kimber Edwards proclaimed his 
innocence. Then an officer
put in motion the removal of Kimber’s daughter from his home on the grounds 
that her father was a
suspect in the death of the girl’s mother. The child was placed into immediate 
DFS custody and taken
from the station. Kimber’s current wife was also interrogated and 
fingerprinted. Police brought
Kimber out of his interrogation room to watch his wife be photographed.



Kimber Edwards finally agreed to tell the police what they wanted to hear, if 
they would leave his
family alone. Self-incriminating statements were coerced. They are additionally 
unreliable because
Kimber Edwards has an autistic spectrum mental disorder. It makes an individual 
susceptible to
suggestion.  In fact, to minimize victimization, many law enforcement agencies 
have issued
guidelines and manuals to instruct personnel on care and precautions to be 
taken when dealing with
witnesses or suspects on the spectrum.



3. Finally, Edwards suffered from prosecutorial misconduct, since all 
African-American jurors were
deliberately excluded from his jury pool.  In St. Louis County, this racially 
infected approach to
criminal justice has been the source of public outcry.  Today, even with 
substantial doubts about
his guilt, a wrongfully convicted man, Kimber Edwards, is facing imminent 
execution, while the
actual shooter, Orthell Wilson, has a life sentence.



  *  Missouri is burying its mistakes, and has executed 17 men since November 
2013.
  *  The Death Penalty in Missouri is Broken.  The 2012 Assessment Study said 
Missouri is
     “substantially out of compliance” with the American Bar Association 
guidelines, and made 94
     recommendations for reform.  Not one has been implemented by the State.
  *  According to a 2013 study by the Death Penalty Information Center St. Louis 
County ranked #9
     among jurisdictions in the nation in executions.





ACTIONS NEEDED



CONTACT Gov. Jay Nixon, urging him to commute his death sentence.  Call 
573-751-3222; write a
letter-- mailing it to Rm 216, State Capitol, Jefferson City MO 65101, fax it 
via 573-751-1495 or
e-mail via www.governor.mo.gov.

CONTACT Attorney General Chris Koster’s office, encouraging him to cease 
pushing for executions,
including the killing of Mr. Edwards. Call 573-751-3321, write: PO Box 899, 
Jefferson City MO 652101
or e-mail www.ago.mo.gov.



Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

log onto www.madpmo.org or call 816-931-4177 for more details.