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Governor Denies Clemency in Execution Case

October 25, 2005
By: Bente Birkeland
State Capital Bureau

Just hours before Marlin Gray's scheduled execution, his friends and family held protests just steps below Governor Blunt's office.

Bente (BEN ta) Birkeland has more from Jefferson City.

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Marlin Gray supporters came to Jefferson City to ask Governor Blunt to commute Gray's sentence.

Anthony Steele is the pastor of St. Peter's AME Church in St. Louis. It's the church Marlin grew up in. Pastor Steele says he thinks the jury rushed to judgment and ignored holes in Gray's case.

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"Marlin Gray is not even convicted of murder, he wasn't on the bridge. They already stipulated that fact, but still they want to push him into death."

Gray never confessed to the murders but he did confess to raping the two women, later he said police forced that confession.

From the state Capital, I'm Bente Birkeland.

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Marlin Gray's close family friend asks Governor Blunt to intervene and stop Gray's execution on Wednesday. Bente (BEN ta) Birkeland has more from Jefferson City.

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In a few hours Marlin Gray is scheduled to be executed for murdering two women in 1991. Blanche Roucker's children grew up with Marlin in St. Louis. Roucker says her daughter also knew the two murder victims.

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"It's not that we're not, we don't care. We care, but we think that Marlin should be given another trial, because we think they will find him not guilty."

A spokesman for Gov. Blunt says the Governor is still looking over Gray's case and won't make a decision about the execution until later tonight.

From the state Capital, I'm Bente Birkeland.

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Despite a last ditch protest effort at the state Capital by family and friends, Governor Blunt has denied clemency to a man set to be executed Wednesday. Bente (BEN ta ) Birkeland has more from Jefferson City.

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About 50 of Gray's family and friends protested his execution at the state Capital. Charlie Johnson made the trip from St. Louis. Johnson has known Gray since he was three years old. She says Gray wasn't given a fair trial because the prosecution was incompetent.

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" To see the system push this whole thing through and want to kill him, it's just the worst case scenario. It's execution gangster style, that's what I feel. It's execution gangster style because he was a black man."

A jury convicted Gray of murdering two sisters in 1991. He was with three friends, on an abandoned bridge. Gov. Blunt says he will not give Gray clemency. Gray will be executed Wednesday.

From the state Capital, I'm Bente Birkeland.

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Gov. Blunt says the execution of a St. Louis convicted murderer will continue as planned.

Bente (BEN ta) Birkeland has more from the state capitol.

Marlin Gray's family and friends failed in their last ditch protest effort at the state Capital. Gray was convicted of murdering two women in 1991. Gray's appeals were turned down by a federal court at the Missouri Supreme Court. A spokeswoman for Gov. Blunt, Jessica Robinson says the Governor carefully reviewed Gray's case.

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"They determined it was an appropriate sentence for the crime, and that he should be held accountable for these murders, and as a result of that the Governor does not see any reason to overturn those decisions."

Gray's execution is scheduled for Wednesday. It will be the fifth execution since Governor Blunt took office.

From the state Capital, I'm Bente Birkeland.