Judge: State prosecutors to handle retrial in bridge deaths

ST. LOUIS -- A judge has appointed state prosecutors to the retrial of a man once sentenced to death in the killings of two sisters pushed from an abandoned Mississippi River bridge.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported a judge agreed Thursday to appoint the Missouri Attorney General's Office as a special prosecutor. St. Louis' prosecutor had sought the move, arguing state prosecutors have the necessary experience and knowledge of Reginald Clemons' case to take over.

Clemons was among four men convicted in the 1991 deaths of 20-year-old Julie Kerry and her 19-year-old sister, Robin.

The Missouri Supreme Court late last year overturned Clemons' 1993 conviction. The ruling found prosecutors had wrongly suppressed evidence and detectives had beat Clemons into confessing to the crimes.

The retrial is tentatively set for August.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com