Group calls for study of capital punishment system

Southeast Missouri's first group lobbying for a moratorium on the death penalty was formed in recent months, calling for a stop to executions in the state until reform can take place.

Interfaith Southeast Moratorium on Executions, founded in October, focuses on contacting the legislature and trying to raise awareness of the issue, said Courtney Kennedy, director of the group.

"Right now, our focus is to get a moratorium on executions while they're being studied," she said.

Unlike other groups, Interfaith doesn't call for an absolute abolishment of the death penalty, only to temporarily stop executions until more studies can be done on the system, Kennedy said.

The group, made up of about 10 members from different denominations, meets monthly on every third Wednesday at Grace United Methodist Church.

Interfaith was partially responsible for hosting the Road Trip for Justice, a panel of people who shared their personal stories concerning the criminal justice system Friday night at Southeast Missouri State University.

Bess Klassen-Landis, who was 13 when her mother was raped and murdered, said she speaks about a moratorium on the death penalty because she feels that dragging victims' families through years of costly appeals in capital cases is counterproductive and unnecessary. She believes more studies need to be done on the system, she said.

"I think people, if they can get the facts, can make an intelligent decision," Landis said.

Darryl Burton, incarcerated for 24 years for a 1985 St. Louis murder, also spoke about how he came close to receiving the death penalty in the capital murder case in which he was convicted.

Burton was released from Jefferson City Correctional Center in August 2008 when a Cole County granted a motion tossing out his conviction because potentially exculpatory evidence was not disclosed to the defense.

"I was just one step from the death penalty," Burton said.

While in the Jefferson City Correctional Center, Burton knew Joshua C. Kezer, whose conviction in a Scott County murder case was thrown out last week by the same judge who handled Burton's motion challenging his conviction.

Burton said while in prison he became aware of Kezer and others that he believed were wrongfully incarcerated.

"What if they were executed -- how do you correct something like that?" he said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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