On Monday, clergy and leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal church added their voices to a growing group of prominent individuals urging Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to grant clemency to John Winfield, a man scheduled to be executed on June 18th a little after midnight.
In a letter to Governor Nixon, the faith leaders write, “We support clemency for Mr. Winfield on several grounds, including the recent testimony from a juror at Mr. Winfield’s trial concerning the prosecutor’s manipulation of the nearly all-white jury’s racial biases, his family’s plea to spare Mr. Winfield’s life, and in particular the plea for mercy from Mr. Winfield’s daughter, whose mother was a victim of the crime, and Mr. Winfield’s exceptional adjustment to prison as a youth mentor and model inmate.”
This letter is just the latest in a series declarations and letters that have been filed in support of clemency along with Mr. Winfield’s clemency petition last week. The other unlikely allies supporting clemency include a former juror in his case, the victim’s daughter, and the Missouri NAACP.
As the AME leaders assert, Governor Nixon has more than one good reason to commute Mr. Winfield’s sentence to life without parole. Taken together, the numerous issues surrounding Mr. Winfield’s case make a compelling argument to spare his life:
One former juror says she would have voted for life. Ms. Kimberly Turner, who served on Mr. Winfield’s jury, voted for life without parole but changed her vote after the court’s bailiff instructed the jurors to keep deliberating. That one vote for life without parole would have saved Mr. Winfield’s life.
Mr. Winfield’s jury was infected by racial bias. Ms. Turner, who is white, also attests that the prosecutor played upon the jury’s racial biases (the jury in Mr. Winfield’s case was all white except for one African-American). She states that the prosecutor painted Mr. Winfield as a “thug” who drove around St. Louis in a Cadillac with tinted windows, yet the jury did not get to hear testimony about how hard Mr. Winfield was working to support his children at the time.
In their letter in support of clemency sent to Governor Nixon, the Missouri NAACP wrote, “As individuals committed to equality of rights and the elimination of racial discrimination, we are deeply concerned about the role that racial bias played in determining whether Mr. Winfield shall live or die, and we ask that clemency be granted to correct this injustice.”
Mr. Winfield is a model prisoner who dedicates his time in prison to helping others. A staff member at the Department of Corrections has called him a “changed man,” citing how Mr. Winfield looks after inmates in the special needs unit and cares for younger or weaker inmates at the prison as examples of Mr. Winfield’s exceptional work ethic and “dedication to helping those who are in pain.”
The victim’s daughter does not want Mr. Winfield, her father, to be executed. She has forgiven him and does not want to see him executed.
Given the numerous issues surrounding Mr. Winfield’s case, from his exceptional behavior in prison to his death sentence influenced by racial bias, it makes good sense for the governor to grant mercy to Mr. Winfield. Governor Nixon should exercise his power to commute Mr. Winfield’s death sentence to life without parole.