Roadtrip for Justice: Panel questions use of capital punishment

Twenty-four years ago, Darryl Burton was placed in a prison cell as an unbeliever.

"I did not believe in heaven or hell until I ended up in a place that was hell on earth," Burton said.

While reading from the Bible, Burton came upon the passage, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." That's when Burton said he found peace that surpassed all understanding.

"My spirit has left this place and someday my body will be free, too," he said.

After serving 24 years for a crime he didn't commit, Burton got that freedom when he was exonerated in August. He was released from the Jefferson City Correctional Center, the same prison Joshua C. Kezer was released from this week after his exoneration of the murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.comThe Roadtrip for Justice supports Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Moratorium Now! campaign. Three speakers shared different experiences Friday evening, February 20, 2009, at the University Center in Cape Girardeau.

Burton, along with Paula Skillicorn, the wife of death row inmate Dennis Skillicorn, and Bess Klassen Landis, whose mother was murdered in 1965, spoke of their experiences to a group of 35 people Friday night in the University Center.

The event was part of the Road Trip for Justice, a seven-day speaking tour across Missouri sponsored by Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty (MADP). They seek to abolish the death penalty in Missouri, or at least halt all executions for the next two years while a commission studies the state's capital-punishment system and runs DNA tests on all pending cases.

"I know all of you in this room have been accused of something you didn't do. But imagine being locked up in a 6-by-8 bathroom -- we call them cells -- with another human being the rest of your life, for a crime you didn't commit," Burton said.

Donald Ball was shot and killed while pumping gas at a station in St. Louis. Witnesses described the murderer as a man 5 foot 5 or 6 inches, with medium to light skin.

"I'm 5 foot 9 or 10 inches, and as you can see, I'm dark as you can get. Turn the lights out and you probably couldn't see me. But that became my saving grace -- my dark hue," Burton said.

During his two-day trial, prosecutors presented only two witnesses, who testified at times contradictorily, that they had seen Burton murder Ball. Despite the conflicting description, no DNA and no motive, Burton was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole.

"I felt at that time in my life that I was the only one in the United States for this to ever happen to. I didn't think this could happen, and it happens far too frequently," Burton said.

More than 125 people, including three Missouri men, have been found innocent since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1973. Evidence strongly suggests that at least 23 others who were executed were also innocent, according to MADP.

Opponents of the death penalty say there are too many underlying questions about capital punishment. Skillicorn said there are problems with appeals, interrogations, accomplice accountability and botched investigations. She said a survey of jurors in capital trials said that 49 percent decided the outcome before the sentencing phase even began.

Missouri has not executed anyone in three years, and the state's death penalty is on hold pending a state Supreme Court review. House Bill 1870, sponsored by Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City, would establish a moratorium on the death penalty in the state until 2011. It would also create a statewide commission that would examine whether all prosecutors use similar criteria in seeking the death penalty.

Landis said as the daughter of a murder victim, she feels the death penalty is not a feasible solution.

"We need to fill it with something life giving and we need to regain that life," Landis said.

cwest@semissourian.com

388-3654

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