Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
July 2024
We are pleased to attach the latest report on this topic thanks to group member Lesley for the work involved in its preparation. Although China is mentioned in the report, details of the numbers executed are a state secret. It is believed they execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined.
June 2024
Marcellus Williams is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 24 for a crime DNA evidence proves he did not commit. The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney in Missouri USA, reviewed these DNA results and filed a motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ conviction because he believed the DNA results proved by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Williams did not commit this crime. Although the circuit court has not yet scheduled a hearing to address this motion — and no court has ever considered the new exculpatory evidence — the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for Mr. Williams.
That same DNA evidence led Governor Eric Greitens to convene a board of inquiry and halt Williams’ scheduled execution just hours before he was slated to die. That inquiry later stalled, and Governor Mike Parson disbanded the board before it issued any findings (which led to a lawsuit by the Innocence Project, which still pending).
We have less than 100 days to stop the execution of an innocent person. Add your name to stop this injustice before it’s too late.
Sources: Innocent Project; St Louis Post-Despatch; Riverfront Times (Missouri)
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Execution of Marcellus Williams
March 2023
We are pleased to attach the latest death penalty report for Mid February – March 2023 thanks to group member Lesley for the work in preparing it. The desire for the newly appointed deputy chair of the Conservative Party, Lee Anderson MP, for the reinstatement of the penalty in the UK is unwelcome.
Saudi Arabia is not the only country to flout international law when it comes to the death penalty. The same is true in the US when it comes to executing people with intellectual disabilities.
Ernest Johnson faces execution on 5 October 2021. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for the 1994 murders of three employees of a convenience store in Missouri. A jury sentenced him to death despite a claim of intellectual disability in violation to international law. Johnson had surgery in 2008 to remove a brain tumour which has left him with seizures. Medical experts testified that the lethal injection drugs may trigger violent and painful seizures. State and federal courts have denied his claims for relief. We urge Governor Parson to halt the execution and commute his sentence.
Please take action on Earnest Johnson’s behalf. There is no address but you can access the appeal form here.
UPDATE The Amnesty death penalty report is now to hand and can be accessed here.
The latest death penalty report is now available thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it.
Note that China remains the world’s leader in executions but the details and statistics are a state secret.
If you would like to join the local group you would be very welcome. Keep and eye on this site and on Facebook and Twitter for details of activities and come along and make yourself known. It is free to join the local group.
September 2017
The latest report is now available thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. Note that China remains the world’s largest execution but details are a state secret.
The trial of Reggie Clemons in Missouri has been delayed yet again until January. This has come about because the defense has claimed that Reggie’s phone calls and visitor logs have been accessed by the Attorney General’s office since March 2016. They claim that at least three of these calls to his lawyers and may have revealed names of expert witnesses to called to testify at his trial. The Attorney General office deny these claims and said that Clemons had waived his attorney client privilege.
He has been in prison now for 22 years and the trial had been set for August.
The group sent a card to Reggie in anticipation of the trial taking place in August.
Here is a factsheet produced by Amnesty USA giving background to this disturbing case.
Sources: St Louis Dispatch and Amnesty USA
December 7, 2015
My family and I wish to thank the Missouri Supreme Court for vacating our son Reginald Clemons’ convictions and sentences and remanding his case. I want to thank the Court for pursuing the path of due process in our son’s case and for the appointment of Judge Michael Manners as Special Master, and for the additional work done by Judge Lisa White Hardwick from the Missouri Court of Appeals sitting as a Special Judge of the Court. Our faith and confidence has been renewed in our judicial system.
– Vera Thomas, Reggie Clemons’s mother
We are delighted to report the good news concerning Reggie. All of those who have worked tirelessly for justice on behalf of Reggie Clemons are simply thrilled by today’s opinion (24th November). Today the Missouri Supreme Court has upheld Mr. Clemons’s constitutional right to a fair trial, which is all he has sought from the beginning. Campaigners said they were deeply grateful for the Court’s decision, and its willingness to protect the Due Process rights of Mr. Clemons and citizens everywhere.
The Salisbury group has campaigned on behalf of Reggie for several years now and only last week, we sent him some cards in prison. This is excellent news and shows that persistent campaigning can be successful.
This is a factsheet (pdf) we prepared two years ago. Note: the website address on the factsheet has been changed, it is now http://www.salisburyai.com
A report from St Louis Channel 5 including a video clip from the courtroom.
UPDATE: 8 October. Richard Glossip has been given an indefinite stay of execution
We attach the monthly death penalty report for September thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. China remains the world leader in the use of the death penalty.
This is the monthly report on the state of death penalty around the world, thanks to Lesley for compiling it.
The news that Ray Hilton has been released after 28 years on death row is both heartening and shocking. That the state of Alabama should have so badly conducted his trial and then refused to allow the fresh ballistic evidence to be heard, which was the only evidence against him, is particularly shocking. There can be few better examples of the dangers of this penalty than a case such as this.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
