“To avoid the possibility of another death sentence at his third trial this summer, Gary W. Black this week sought and obtained a plea bargain that will keep him locked up for the rest of his life for the 1998 stabbing death of Jason Johnson.
Black, 54, entered an Alford plea Wednesday in Jasper County Circuit Court to the first-degree murder charge he has been facing for 12 years.
Black was twice convicted of the charge and twice sentenced to die by Jasper County juries. Both convictions were overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court, and a third capital-murder trial was set to begin in late July, with selection of jurors from Cass County.”
Gary Black enters plea to avoid death penalty
May 6, 2010 By
State of Missouri vs. Gregory Bowman
April 29, 2010 By
SC90618 – Velda Rumfelt was murdered in 1977. There were ligature marks and a laceration around her throat. The medical examiner concluded that strangulation was the cause of death. No one was charged with the murder.
In 1979, Gregory Bowman was convicted in Illinois of killing Ruth Ann Jany and Elizabeth West and was sentenced to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment. In 2001, the convictions were vacated and new trials were ordered on grounds that Bowman’s confessions were coerced. Bowman remained in jail in Illinois until he posted bail in 2007.
Shortly after Bowman’s release from jail, James Rokita, an investigator with the Belleville, Illinois, police department, forwarded Bowman’s DNA profile to the St. Louis County police department. St. Louis County investigators compared Bowman’s DNA profile to the DNA profile extracted from sperm recovered from Rumfelt’s underwear. Bowman’s DNA profile matched the DNA profile of the sperm recovered from Rumfelt’s underwear. Bowman was charged with Rumfelt’s murder.
The State presented evidence that Bowman’s DNA was found in Rumfelt’s underwear. Dr. Mary Case, the St. Louis County medical examiner, testified that the cause of death was strangulation and that Rumfelt was the victim of a probable sexual assault. One of Rumfelt’s friends testified that she saw Rumfelt walking with an unidentified young man on the evening of June 5, 1977. Another friend testified that she saw Rumfelt on the morning of June 6, 1977. Rumfelt’s body was discovered on June 7, 1977. The jury convicted Bowman of first-degree murder.
Anti-death penalty advocates say Clemons case raises questions
March 11, 2010 By
The discovery of long-hidden evidence in a 19-year old murder case fuels hopes of death penalty opponents that the state will declare a moratorium on executions for two years. Reginald Clemons, Marlin Gray, and two others were convicted in 1993 of the rapes and murders of two St. Louis sisters who were thrown off a St. Louis bridge into the Mississippi River. Gray was executed five years ago. Clemons would have been executed last June but a stay was issued and a special judge is reviewing the case.
A few days ago, three lab reports and some physical evidence was discovered in the St. Louis police crime lab and says the evidence had been disclosed to the defense.
Executive Director Donnie Morehouse of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty says the discovery nine months after Clemons was supposed to die carries a message. “What has been going on and why has that evidence been sitting there and why has it not come forward and why it’s just now at this time come forward. I think those are questions legislators should be asking,” he says.
The Attorney General wants a quick court ruling on how this information should be processed. Morehouse’s group and other death penalty organizations had planned before the evidence was found to have a rally at the Capitol next week. Morehouse says the revelations about the evidence will give more weight to the push for a moratorium. [Story by Missourinet's Bob Priddy]
New evidence in Clemons case
March 9, 2010 By
Some evidence has been found that was never used in a 1993 St. Louis murder trial in which Reginald Clemons was sentenced to death. The state Attorney General’s office has notified a special judge reviewing the case that three laboratory reports and a rape-kit have been found in the St. Louis Police Department’s Crime Lab. The Attorney General has asked for a quick hearing to determine the appropriate process for testing the biological evidence and getting the information into the process.
Clemons’ prosecutor says he learned of the evidence only recently. Clemons’ lawyers were apparently not told about it.
Clemons says he did not take part in the rape and murder of two St. Louis sisters thrown off a bridge into the Missouri River in 19-91. Clemons was to have been executed last June but the execution was stayed. One of the other three men implicated in the case, Marlin Gray, was executed five years ago. [Missourinet]
Third capital murder trial of Gary Black
February 5, 2010 By
A date has been set for the third capital murder trial of Gary Black, who twice has been sentenced to death for stabbing a man to death in Joplin. By the time the trial starts August 2nd, almsot 12 years have elapsed since the death of Jason Johnson.
Black is charged with stabbing Johnson to death as Johnson sat in his pickup truck at a Joplin stoplight. Testimony at the two earlier trials indicated Johnson had brushed against Black’s girlfriend at a convenience store but had apologized.
Black’s previous convictions have been reversed on appeals. More on this story from the Joplin Globe.
