Executed February 6, 2002

BY FAX: 573-751-1495

February 5, 2002

Governor Bob Holden
Missouri Capital Building Rm. 216
P.O. Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0720

Re: Michael Owsley

Dear Governor Holden:

On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, we urge you to grant clemency to Michael Owsley, and to commute his sentence to life imprisonment without parole.  Clear evidence of the gross incompetence of Mr. Owsley's trial counsel along with the mitigating evidence of his troubled childhood and mental condition merit this extraordinary relief.

The wretched performance of Jim McMullin-Mr. Owsley's trial counsel-is absolutely inexcusable in this case in which Mr. Owsley's very life was at stake.  Mr. McMullin repeatedly confused the facts of Mr. Owsley's case with that of another death penalty defendant he was representing at the same time, and even filed motions and questioned experts in court on the wrong case.  He was often confused, disorganized, and unfocused, as substantiated by the medical experts involved in both cases.  But despite the overwhelming evidence of Mr. McMullin's incompetence, no court would remove him from the case or even hold an evidentiary hearing on the issue.

As a result of Mr. McMullin's incompetence, the jury never heard mitigating evidence about Mr. Owsley's childhood.  Mr. Owsley was raised by an alcoholic, abusive mother who never wanted him and who singled him out among her other children for abuse because she disliked his father.  While pregnant with Michael, she drank alcohol and took illegal drugs and other substances in an effort to abort the pregnancy.  Michael was frequently beaten by his alcoholic mother, and began drinking her alcohol at a very young age.  While the jury heard that Mr. Owsley was drunk and under the influence of PCP at the time of his crime, it never heard the full story of how he reached this condition.

At trial, Mr. McMullin focused on claiming an intoxication defense-not recognized under Missouri law-rather than claiming the recognized defense of mental disease or defect.  Consequently, medical evidence of Mr. Owsley's psychological disorder was never presented to the jury.  This evidence, if properly presented, would have been sufficient either to reduce his crime from first to second degree murder at the guilt phase of his trial, or to reduce his death sentence to life imprisonment at the penalty phase.  

The disproportionate nature of Mr. Owsley's death sentence is highlighted by the 20-year sentence received by his admittedly more culpable co-defendant.   Mr. Owsley has exhausted all other means of remedying the injustice in his case.  The death penalty cannot be legitimate when it is applied unfairly, without regard for a defendant's right to effective counsel, or for his mental condition and abusive background.  We respectfully urge you to render justice in this case by granting clemency to Michael Owsley.

Sincerely,

Diann Rust-Tierney
ACLU Capital Punishment Project

Matt LeMieux
ACLU of Eastern Missouri

Iain R. McPhie
Pro Bono Counsel
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20044