INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS -- Antonio Richardson

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ANTONIO RICHARDSON

2003
October 29: Richardson's Death Sentence Reduced To Life In Prison
2001
February 27: Defenders Say Condemned Man Has "Mind of a Child"
March 6: Richardson Scheduled for Execution Tonight
March 7: Richardson' Execution On, Then Off, Then On, Then Off
March 9: Proposals To Limit Executions Move Ahead
July 10: Missouri Becomes Sixteenth State With Death Penalty Ban

Richardson's Death Sentence Reduced To Life In Prison
October 29, 2003
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI--According to a brief Associated Press story, Antonio Richardson's death sentence has been reduced to life in prison, but not because he has mental retardation.

Richardson's death sentence, and that of two other death row inmates, were re-sentenced to life in prison by the Missouri Supreme Court on October 28, because they had been sentenced by judges, not juries.

The high court ruled in June that it would follow a federal decision and have it apply retroactively to death row inmates. In Richardson's case, the court ruled that the jury in his trial had not found every fact required under state law before the judge sentenced him.

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DEFENDERS SAY CONDEMNED MAN HAS "MIND OF A CHILD"
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 27, 2001

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI--Antonio Richardson stands to make Missouri history next week -- although it is not the kind of distinction for which he would like to be remembered.

If Richardson is executed March 7 as scheduled, he will become the youngest person at the time of his crime to be executed in the state's history.

Richardson, now 26, was just 16 when he raped sisters Julie Kerry, 21, and Robin Kerry, 19, and then pushed them off an abandoned bridge and into the Mississippi River. Two other defendants are also on death row for the crimes.

But Richardson's defenders claim he has mental retardation and "in essence was just a 7-year old" at the time of the murders. One of his attorneys says Richardson has an IQ of around 70, that Richardson had attended a "special education school" in St. Louis, and that he functions today like an average elementary school student.

Many experts use an IQ of 70 or less, along with other factors, to consider a person as having mental retardation.

Several appeals have been denied, but Richardson's supporters, including a group called the Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, are hoping Gov. Bob Holden will grant clemency to Richardson.

"We don't treat juveniles the same as adults," Gino Battisti, who has been Richardson's attorney since 1996, told the Associated Press. "They can't vote, can't buy alcohol, but we take that same group of people and authorize capital punishment."

"This is a practice that must stop."

Missouri legislators have introduced several bills this session that would ban the execution of people who are determined to have mental retardation.

RICHARDSON SCHEDULED FOR EXECUTION TONIGHT
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 6, 2001

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI--Antonio Richardson, 26, will die in just a few hours from now if Governor Bob Holden does not stop the execution.

Amnesty International, the Children and Family Justice Center, the ARC, Human Rights Watch, the European Union and other groups, along with the mother of Richardson's victims, have asked Holden to stop the scheduled 12:01 a.m. Wednesday execution, because of his age at the time of the crimes, and his IQ.

Richardson was 16 years of age when he participated in the rape and murder of two sisters in 1991. If he is put to death as scheduled he will reportedly be the second person in the U.S. in more than four decades to face the death penalty for a crime committed at age 16.

Two other men, then 23 and 19, have also been sentenced to death for the crimes. A fourth defendant, who was 15, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against the other three.

Much of the public's focus on Richardson has had to do with a score of 70 he received on an IQ test. Many experts consider IQ scores of 70 and below to indicate mental retardation.

Ginny Kerry, the mother of the victims, told a St. Louis television station that she felt Richardson was responsible for the crime, but that she requested clemency for him "because of his youth and his diminished mental capacity".

Richardson' Execution On, Then Off, Then On, Then Off
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 7, 2001

POTOSI, MISSOURI--After an evening of legal "ups" and "downs" the most recent reports this morning indicate that Antonio Richardson was not executed overnight.

Richardson, 26, has been on death row since being convicted of the 1991 rapes and murders of two sisters. His supporters say he has mental retardation and "the mind of a ten-year-old".

Richardson was scheduled for execution at 12:01 this morning. But early last night, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the execution stopped. The Appeals Court wanted Richardson's life spared, at least until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case of John Paul Penry, a convicted murderer from Texas who also has mental retardation.

At 9:55 p.m., after hearing a petition from the Missouri Attorney General's office, the U.S. Supreme Court, reversed the Appeals Court ruling and reinstated the execution. Officials at the Potosi Correctional Center moved forward to execute Richardson by lethal injection as planned.

Finally, with just a short time left before the scheduled execution, the Supreme Court reversed its own earlier ruling, thereby blocking the execution for the time being. The high court said it wants to use the Penry case to clarify how much opportunity jurors in death penalty cases must have to consider the defendant's "mental capacity".

Richardson was 16 years of age when he committed the crimes. Only one other execution in the last 40 years in the U.S. involved someone who committed the crime at age 16 or younger.

Proposals To Limit Executions Move Ahead
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
March 9, 2001
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI--The state House passed a bill Thursday that would make it illegal to execute people with mental retardation. The state's Senate gave first-round approval to a similar bill on Wednesday.

The measures do not rely on a standard IQ score to determine mental retardation. Many experts use an IQ of 70 as the cut-off for mental retardation. Many advocates for people with mental retardation have argued that IQ scores primarily measure how well a person does on a set of tests, and that this has little to do with determining how capable the person is.

The Senate bill defines mental retardation as a "condition involving substantial limitations in general functioning characterized by significantly subaverage intellectual functioning with continual related deficits and limitations in adaptive behavior such as communication, self- care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work."

The House bill is similar but adds that the person's "significantly subaverage" intelligence harms the person's ability to communicate, work or take care of himself.

Both bills would require that the disability be documented before the person reaches age 18.

Neither bill would be retroactive, so would have no effect on the case of Missouri death row inmate Antonio Richardson, who narrowly escaped execution earlier this week. Richardson, was convicted of raping and murdering two sisters in 1991, when he was just 16 years of age. He reportedly has an IQ of 70.

Richardson was scheduled to die on Wednesday morning, but was spared temporarily by the United States Supreme Court. The high court ordered the execution halted until after it reviews the case of John Paul Penry, another convicted murderer with mental retardation who is on death row in Texas.

Missouri Becomes Sixteenth State With Death Penalty Ban
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
July 10, 2001

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI--Last Monday, Governor Bob Holden signed into law a measure that makes Missouri the 16th state with a death penalty to ban execution of people determined to have mental retardation. The state's legislature had tried and failed to pass such a bill for the last ten years.

The law does not use the commonly-accepted IQ score of 70 or below to determine if the defendant has mental retardation. Instead the bill defines mental retardation as a "condition involving substantial limitations in general functioning characterized by significantly subaverage intellectual functioning with continual related deficits and limitations in adaptive behavior such as communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work."

In order for the defendant to be exempted from execution, the condition would have to have been documented before age 18.

Even though the legislation will only apply to a person who commits murder after Aug. 28, Holden has said he will consider commuting the sentence for any current inmate who meets the new definition.

The law itself would not save Antonio Richardson, 26, who has been on death row since being convicted of the 1991 rapes and murders of two sisters. His supporters say he has mental retardation and "the mind of a ten-year-old".

On March 7, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a halt to Richardson's scheduled execution just a few minutes before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection. The high court has agreed to use a North Carolina case to decide whether executing a person considered to have mental retardation is "cruel and unusual punishment" as defined by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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