Urge Gov. Bob Holden to halt the execution of Paul Kreutzer and commute his sentence. Contact the governor, by fax at 573-751-1495 or calling 573-751-3222;

*Come to a Vigil for Life from 5:00- 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9 at the Boone County courthouse and/or 11:00 p.m.- Midnight, at the Governor’s Mansion, Jefferson City (Car-pool from Boone Co. courthouse at 10:00); *Attend a Prayer Vigil beginning at 6:30 p.m., St. Luke’s United Methodist Church,204 E.Ash at St. Luke’s church.

For more information call 449-4585.

Missouri officials intend to punctuate the tortuous life of Paul Kreutzer with yet one more violent act—they plan to execute him late Tuesday night, officially in the opening minutes of April 10. There’s no justification for his 1992 murder of Louise Hemphill, a 36-year homemaker, wife and mother of three children. Kreutzer entered her family’s home in the northeast Missouri town of Louisiana, raped and stabbed her, hit her with a baseball bat, then stole her wallet.

The FOR condemns the brutally- violent murder committed by Kreutzer. We mourn the death of Mrs. Hemphill and extend our sincerest condolences to her surviving family members for their profound loss. As pacifists, we further find no moral justification for the vengeful state killing of Kreutzer, seeing it as perpetuating his contemptible violence. Hemphill had a creator, God-given, a human right to life, so does Kreutzer. There are other issues worth considering as well.

"The demands of others molded Paul’s early years into what can hardly be called a childhood," writes Susan Griffith, a cousin of Kreutzer and a Columbia physician. "Born to parents who beat, broke bones and raped their children, Paul was moved out as a toddler to adoptive parents."

The Kreutzers, a lower-income farming family in Pike County outside Louisiana, proved to be bizarrely horrific and violent in their non-care-giving of Paul. To punish their adoptive son, the Kreutzers at times squeezed Paul's fingers with a pair of pliers and placed him in a large wooden box for long periods of time. He was frequently hit with various items from fly swatters to wooden boards. Recalls his cousin Dr. Griffith: "Everyone could see his bright smile underneath a freckled nose, but sometimes that smile was peering out of a wire-covered window of a trailer, the door locked by a bike chain and a padlock. He would beg us to let him out, saying he had been in there for 3 days – punishment for eating all of the butter."

In this trailer, where he frequently lived, there was neither running water nor heat. Kreutzer was typically allowed to take a bath just twice a month. A schoolmate's mother exposed Paul to pornography when he was only in kindergarten. His own brother, and other relatives, schooled him in deviate sexual behavior, festering into a sexual obsession with his sister. Mrs. Kreutzer's prescription for correcting the preoccupation: she instructed him to have sex with the family's cows. When Paul did in fact resort to bestiality, he was punished, bound nightly to his bed with a heavy dog chain. Kreutzer was also enuretic, frequently wetting his bed, and eventually was operated on to correct the problem. His adoptive mother punished him nonetheless, making him drink his own urine. On at least one occasion Mrs. Kreutzer undressed all of the children, made them look at their body parts, and then forced them to spit on themselves.

Kruetzer ran away from home when he was about 14, was picked up by authorities and classified by the Division of Family Services (DFS) as an abused and neglected child. He was found to have learning disabilities and deficient academic skills, with IQ testing indicating borderline intelligence. Trial psychologists determined he was mentally ill, suffering from paraphilia (a sexual disorder characterized by recurrent intense fantasies, sexual urges or behavior generally involving non human objects, children or other non-consenting persons), post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder-- all as results of his childhood abuse.

The trial judge, labeling them as hearsay, disallowed trial jurors to view DFS records showing Kreutzer’s abuse both by his biological and adoptive parents. The records supported later psychological findings showing he suffered from a mental disease which limited his culpability for the murder.

With Kreutzer’s appeals exhausted before Missouri appellate courts, different attorneys in 1997 began preparations in the federal appeals system. They asked for and received a filing extension from one federal district judge. Months later, at the end of oral arguments before the U.S. 8th Circuit Court, the judges surprisingly ruled the district judge had unlawfully granted the extension, consequently they contended all of Kreutzer’s claims were filed "out of time" (two weeks late) and procedurally barred from future consideration on the federal level. "So far," his current attorneys wrote in one document, "he has had about as much due process in the federal courts as he got at home growing up with Mrs. Kreutzer. It is time for this Court to slow down the death train carrying Paul Kreutzer."

Urge Gov. Bob Holden to halt the execution and commute his sentence; Let no more juvenile offenders be executed in keeping with international human-rights norms. Contact the governor, by fax at 573-751-1495 or calling 573-751-3222; *Come to a Vigil for Life from 5:00- 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30 at the Boone County courthouse and/or 11:00 p.m.- Midnight, at the Governor’s Mansion, Jefferson City (Car-pool from Boone Co. courthouse at 10:00); *Attend a Prayer Vigil beginning at 6:30 p.m., St. Luke’s United Methodist Church,204 E.Ash at St. Luke’s church. For more information call 449-4585.

Iran. The Democratic Republic of Congo. Missouri. That’s the company our state will be keeping if officials follow through with plans to execute Christopher Simmons just after midnight on May 1. He was a juvenile, 17 years of age, in 1993 when he apparently murdered Shirley Crook in St. Louis County.

Simmons and at least one other accomplice entered the trailer home of Shirley Crook, robbed, struck and bound her, then forcibly took her and dumped her alive into Meramec River, where she drowned. It was a despicable crime. We with the FOR condemn all murder and mourn with her loved ones and all those grieving such a horrible loss.

Of the world’s 93 nations, only seven have executed juvenile offenders since 1990. Those governments executed 24 individuals who committed crimes when they were younger than 18 years of age. Workers in seven states, including Missouri, executed 14 juvenile offenders during that time—more than the rest of the world combined (Simmons would be the second lethally poisoned in our state). In the past two years though, only the U.S. and the two aforementioned countries executed juvenile offenders. The rest of the world’s nations have signed conventions (the U.S. signed yet remains in violation of two protocols, with several of its states continuing rather than ending the practice).

Especially when considering the death penalty—even greater weight should be given to an individual’s culpability, their level of relative responsibility than to the heinousness of a crime. Just as lawmakers and the governor wisely decided last session to outlaw the death sentencing of mentally-retarded individuals, so too should we spare juveniles from execution. Missouri appropriately recognizes the immaturity of juveniles, not allowing them to smoke, vote, sign contracts or join the military, until they’re 18. A growing body of scientific data suggests the frontal lobes of the human brain—the so-called "executive centers" which control impulses and consider consequences—don’t fully development until at least 18 years of age. Congress established 18 years as the minimum age a defendant could be considered for the federal death penalty.

Of the 38 states with death-penalty statutes, 23 allow the severest punishment for juveniles, yet 16 of those actually have juvenile offenders on "death rows." And of those, just 6 states besides Missouri have executed a juvenile offender since 1973. Missouri legislators have been considering bills (SB 819 and HB 1836) to move the minimum age at which death can be imposed, up to18 years. Similar bills are being considered this session in six other states; additionally, such measures were recently passed in the Florida Senate, another was signed into law last month by the Indiana governor. (For more info see article on Missouri legislation).

Simmons was taken out of school and brought to the Fenton Police Department the day after Ms. Crook was murdered. Police officers read him his Miranda rights outside his school. He told police he did not want to answer their questions, however three officers from the Major Case Squad persisted, interrogating him at their headquarters for a few hours. No parent nor attorney was present for this questioning. He denied any involvement in the offense for nearly two hours. According to attorneys, one officer reminded Simmons he was facing the death penalty and assured him that it was in his best interests to give a statement confessing to the crime. This falsely suggested the courts would show him some leniency if he cooperated. Such questioning by law-enforcement officers would intimidate most individuals, particularly a juvenile. He eventually confessed and gave a videotaped statement. Simmons previously had no prior criminal record, much less a history of violence.

Simmons’ current attorneys argue his trial lawyers failed to conduct an independent investigation, hence were unable to alert jurors of his brutal past, a substantial mitigating factor which also could have led to life not a death sentence. Throughout Simmons’ life, his stepfather, Bob Hayes, an alcoholic, would threaten, intimidate, scream at, and hit Simmons. When Simmons was a young child, Hayes took his stepson to a bar and fed him alcohol for the amusement of the other patrons. He took the youth fishing and tied him to a tree so that he wouldn’t wander away. The stepfather, obsessed with the teen’s acne, held him down and squeezed pimples until they bled. Simmons’ mother felt intimidated of her husband and never intervened to rescue her son from the abuse.

Defense attorneys opted not to even call to testify, though willing, friends and neighbors, nor a psychologist who had evaluated Simmons, and a psychologist who had prepared a social history on him. Christie Brooks, a teenage friend for instance did testify about his good characteristics during the trial’s penalty phase. It wasn’t until his post-conviction relief hearing when she told the court about their semi-weekly drug and alcohol abuse and the abuse of Simmons she witnessed. She recalled for instance seeing Hayes strike him in the ear so hard that blood began running down his neck. She later learned his eardrum had been broken. Simmons often left his abusive home and sought refuge at the trailer of Brian Moomey, one of the state’s other main witnesses. Moomey, a twenty-eight year old convicted felon, supplied drugs and alcohol to the many teenagers that hung out at his home. He often had these kids commit crimes at his direction and bring him the proceeds. Moomey’s boss went to the police and reported that Moomey told him, John Tessmer, another area juvenile, was involved in the murder. Unlike Simmons, Tessmer had a criminal record, having threatened to fatally shoot a woman; when he testified, he was on probation for breaking into someone’s house.

A psychologist testified in a post-conviction hearing Simmons suffered from schizotypal personality disorder and from drug and alcohol abuse. He developed a picture of Simmons the jury never saw—someone who was cautious, unable to trust others, depressed and mired in hopelessness. Simmons was not taught how to control his impulses, and in fact, he learned the opposite from his stepfather, Bob Hayes. He expressed odd beliefs and magical thinking and used these fantasies, along with drugs and alcohol, to escape. The psychological effects of growing up in this alcoholic and abusive environment provide compelling mitigating factors which may have prevented a jury from imposing "death," as they considered why a seventeen year old would commit this murder.

Death-Penalty Legislation Update

As the state legislative session heads into its homestretch, unfortunately, only two of the several death penalty measures we’ve been tracking, have even a remote chance of passage. Activity has ground to a halt at times due to budget squabbles and political wrangling during this election year. If you haven’t done so, please contact your representative and senator and ask how he or she stands on the below mentioned legislation. Ask your legislators to support the measures, rising up to speak for passage or at least voting favorably-- should they come up for a vote in the respective chambers…

House Bill (HB)1766, sponsored by Rep. Ralph Monaco (D-Raytown) would direct courts to impose a sentence of life without parole if a jury deadlocks on sentencing in capital cases.

We’d like to have seen HB 1766 move forward on its own, but it likely would only advance as an amendment to another bill. Please contact Rep. Monaco, if you haven’t already (573-751-9851, rmonaco@services.state.mo.us), thanking him for his leadership and commitment, along with your hope he continues making it a legislative priority.

Letters to all legislators can be addressed to them and sent to either the Senate or House Post Office, Jefferson City MO 65101.

SB 1022 (identical to HB 1766), sponsored by Sen. Larry Rohrbach, (R-California). ACTION: If you haven’t already, please contact Sen. David Klarich (751-1073, fax #: 573-526-2609) and ask him to please "report the bill out" ASAP to the Senate leadership for the full chamber to consider.

A reminder, the Judiciary committee which he chairs, in February, voted it "Do Pass." Sen. Rohrbach also deserves a word of thanks and encouragement (larry_rohrbach@senate.state.mo.us, phone 573-751-2780), if haven’t done so already.

HB 1836, would halt the death sentencing of juveniles and is sponsored by Rep. Craig Hosmer (D-Springfield). It may gain some prominence in coming weeks, sadly, as Christopher Simmons is scheduled to be executed 1 May (see article on page 2).

Unfortunately, the only way this bill will advance will also be as an amendment to another bill, related to criminal law or juveniles, being debated on the floor. Contact Rep. Hosmer (phone 573-751-9474, fax 573-526-6081, chosmer@services.state.mo.us), especially if you haven’t already-- thank him for his sponsorship and urge him both to continue making the bill a legislative priority while sticking to 18 years of age as the minimum threshold (he inferred at the committee hearing a willingness to consider a comprise of moving the minimum age from 16 to 17).

SB 819 (identical to HB 1836), sponsored by Sen. Roseann Bentley (R-Sprinfield). The best, though fading hope for this measure seems to be first securing passage in the House. Sen. Bentley also deserves a word of thanks and encouragement. If you haven’t done so already, contact her office via roseann_bentley@senate.state.mo.us or by calling 573-751-4145. For more information or to be included in future e-mail updates, call Jeff (573-449-4585) or e-mail jstack@coin.org.

Deandre Buchanon faces the ugly probability of a death sentence during a formal hearing set for 4:00 p.m., Monday, 22 April in the Boone County Courthouse—unless there’s considerable popular support for an alternative sentence.

On 15 March, a jury deadlocked 7-5 in favor of "death" but couldn’ t reach a unanimous decision on a sentence,." A half hour later, Judge Gene Hamilton recommended "death." The previous day jurors found Buchanon guilty of 1st degree murder in the horrific, fatal shootings of his former girlfriend Angela Brown, his aunt Juanita Hoffman and her friend William Jefferson. Perhaps jurors reached the impasse, sensing among the victims’ family members an ambivalence with Buchanon receiving a death sentence or maybe when confronted with killing a human being, their support for capital punishment began to wane.

Please join in any of the following efforts for life:

--Write Judge Gene Hamilton (Boone County Courthouse, 705 E. Walnut, Columbia MO 65201). Urge him to chose a sentence of life without the possibility of parole (the only other sentence allowed). Note that "death" especially seems inappropriate if jurors, all "death-qualified," (supportive of capital punishment, as required by law) couldn’t concur;

-- Prayer Vigil mourning the death of the three victims, revering their lives and the life of Buchanon, beginning at 12 Noon, 22 April until the sentencing (join when able), in front of the courthouse, Columbia. Consider fasting. Be respectfully present for life in the courtroom (also see "Death Penalty Legislative Update" for systematic reform). Call Jeff (449-4585) for more information.

7 p.m., Wednesday, 24 April Commission Chambers Boone Co. Gov. Bldg.

State prosecutors depended on the "eyewitness" accounts of three pris- oners who testified they saw Amrine fatally stab Gary Barber in 1985 at the Missouri State Penitetniary. All three have since insisted they lied. The film was made by Columbians John McHale, Ryan Wylie and Dan Huck.

Contact Gov. Bob Holden (see details on front page) and urge him to free Joe Amrine or at least convene a board of inquiry or order a new trial to look further into his case. Contact Jeff (573-449-4585) for more info.

The conflict in the Middle East has reached a particularly volatile point. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon seems poised at the time of this writing, to launch a final deadly assault upon the Ramallah compound of Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, cooler heads have prevailed. It’s not difficult to see how aggression has become unleashed. U.S. President George Bush, VP Dick Chenney, War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Co. for their part, justify attacks across the globe— most recently, killing more than 4000 people in Afghanistan, openly scheming to launch an all-out war upon Iraq, arm to the teeth oppressive forces in Colombia, send in military "advisors" in Philippines—all part of a "perpetual" and righteous "War on Terrorism."

*President George W. Bush, Phone: (202) 456-1111 -- Fax: (202) 456-2461 president@whitehouse.gov;

*Secretary of State Colin Powell Phone: (202) 647-6575 -- Fax: (202) 261-8577, e-mail: mailto:secretary@state.gov.

Here’s some troubling information from the Friends Committee on National Legislation February, which Nan George graciously passed along for us to ponder:

"For fiscal year 2001 (FY01), the year for which we are now preparing our tax returns, the federal government spent a total of $557.2 billion dollars to support the military. Of this, $328 billion funded current military activities while $229 billion paid costs associated with past military activities. The total was about 41.1% of all federal funds outlays in FY01."

There are numerous reasons why we in Columbia should not pour our funds and energy into a Junior Reserve Officers Training (JROTC) program at our area high schools. My own primary concern about JROTC revolves around the question of the kind of world we want for our children and grandchildren and, for that matter, for all of the peoples of the world. Do we really want a world in which we constantly live in fear of terrorist acts and peoples in other countries live in fear of our bombing and/or invasion? Or, would we rather live in a world in which other peoples would not have to fear our massive military power and thus have much less reason to want to harm us? I, for one, favor decreasing the threat of international violence. Saying "no" to JROTC would be one small step in that direction. --John Schuder

Among some other points to consider, from the American Friends Service Committee "Youth and the Military" website (http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/jrotc.htm): On the average, 13 children are killed each day by firearms in the United States. About 92-percent of all U.S. public high schools have in part as a result instituted no-weapons policies, "meant to convey an unambiguous message that violence and weapons have no place in schools and will not be tolerated." Thousands of schools across the country, however, have instituted JROTC programs, which prominently feature at least weapons handling and in many instances, marksmanship instruction—contradicting the anti-violence initiatives. Were non-JROTC students caught with a saber, rifle or toy gun in school, they could be expelled. The mixed messages become even more confusing "when linked with symbols like the U.S. flag." University of North Carolina researchers found "in contrast to standard high school textbooks, the JROTC curriculum ‘celebrates or uncritically accepts the military’s role in all circumstances" and trivializes "the human costs and other consequences of war." If we truly to wish to foster Columbia schools as safe, peaceable places encouraging independent, critical thought, then JROTC has no place in its cirriculum. Contact members of the Board of Education and let them know you want to keep Columbia’s high public schools JROTC-free. Members of the Board (at press time, we were unsure who won the April 2 election. Whether Henry Lane and/or Don Ludwig were elected, they can be contacted via the Board of Education office, 1818 West Worley St., Columbia MO 65203 or calling 886-2100. Most members of the Board have not yet taken a public stand on the topic, except Still and Fay, who both say they support introducing the military program):

David Ballenger 573-445-5488 dpballe@attglobal.net 305 Vieux Carre Ct. Columbia MO 65203

Russell Still 573-875-4730 rstill@harlan-still.com 2000 S. Country Club Dr. Columbia MO 65201

Dr. Kerry Crist 445-2772 crist@msbanet.org 1800 Chapel Wood Rd. Columbia MO 65203

Karla DeSpain 445-4930 k.despain@verizon.net 1800 Glenbrook Ct. Columbia MO 65203

Elton Fay 474-5674 Elton@gfglaw.com 11 N. 5th St. Columbia MO 6501

J.C. Headley 449-6670 jheadley@coin.org 5009 Cullen Ct. Columbia MO 65203

Dr. L.D. Shoengarth 474-2020 500 Keene St., Ste. 101 Columbia MO 65201

I gaze upon the dusk-sky carpet woven of fall-painted clouds & emerging stars embossed with Stealth contrails slowly fraying with a soft north-west breeze

Those Stealth threads weave far to the east Rolling a carpet of fiery red & blinding white bombs Rolling rolling across the barren late-autumn plains of Afghanistan

The wind whistles across those plains around mountains & through valleys & caves Icy winds of approaching winter whirlwind the ashen & cinder-black fraying shredding remnants of a child’s a woman’s an elder’s life

Ashes that fall Cinders that glow Blood that spills Upon a carpet of green black, gold & silver woven by the Seven Sisters of an elite Alliance A glittering carpet to smother to smother how many lives how many lives

A shimmering silver & gold oily-black dollar-green carpet to which most of America-Asia-Africa refuse to weave a single thin thread A carpet splattered with oxidizing blood singed with seering cinders soiled with dry ashes fraying fraying in the winds of war

--Lorraine Caputo

(The Columbian poet was moved to write this, horrified by sounds of murderous Stealth bombers flying above mid-Missouri from Whiteman Air Base, Knob Noster MO)

Peace Coalition Activities
Please participate in any of the three opportunities each week to get visible for peace:

*every Wednesday 4:15-5:45 p.m., Broadway and Providence, coordinated by Peaceworks,;

*every Saturday 10-11 a.m., Columbia Post Office, coordinated by FOR;

*every Tuesday noon-1 p.m. Women in Black at MU’s Speakers Circle, coordinated by WILPF.

*Thursday, April 11-- "Alternatives to the Bush Military Budget: Where are your tax dollars going, and what else could be done with them?" a lecture by Mark Robertson, 7:30 p.m., in 110 Lee Hills Hall on the University campus.

*Saturday, April 13-- "Legs Against Arms" Peace March and Rally, beginning at 11 a.m. at the conclusion of the weekly Post Office Peace Vigil. Sponsored by the Ad Hoc Columbia area Peace Coalition. As this is Tax Day weekend, there will be a focus on the military budget and how resources could better be redirected.

*Monday, April 15-- Tax Day leafleting at the Columbia Post Office from 9 a.m. until midnight.

---Please contact Peaceworks (875-0539) for more specifics on any of the above activities.

or 845-358-4601.

Other Events of Note

*Saturday, April 13-- Prayer for All People from 9:00 -9:45 a.m, at the Islamic Center, 5th and Locust St (and on the second Saturday of each month at various houses of worship). Sponsored by the Interfaith Peace Alliance. Call Mike (657-5546) for details.

*Tuesday, April 16—Benefit to help fund peace activist’s trip to Iraq, 7:00, Music Café, 120 S. 9th St. Members of the Doxies, among other musical talents will perform to assist Chrissy Kirchhoefer’s May journey with Voices in the Wilderness. Call 999-2309 for details and to set up a talk after she returns.

*Saturday, April 20—Stop the War, at Home and Abroad, national mobilization, Washington DC, For more info log onto www.a20stopthewar.org, contact aprilmobilization@nyspc.net or call 202-265-3980. For info on transportation from mid-Missouri call Andrell with Students for Progressive Action (256-2861).

*Sunday, April 21-- Earth Day (raindate 4/28) in Peace Park. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. Call Peaceworks, 875-0539 for more information. If you’d also like to help people the FOR table sometime from 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., call Jeff (449-4585).

*Saturday, April 27—Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now," a benefit for KOPN Community Radio, 89.5 FM, 7:00 p.m., Fisher Aud., Gannett Hall, University of Missouri-Columbia—suggested donation: $5. A special reception will also be held at 5:30 p.m., Village Wine and Cheese (donation- $20, includes entry to speech. Reservations must be made before April 21. Call KOPN at 573-443-1139 for more details.