Today it\u2019s difficult to reconstruct exactly what happened on that hot August night in 1982.\u00a0 Some details were murky even then.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the story:<\/p>\n

A young man named Todd who lived in an affluent suburban neighborhood went to the Central West End with a friend to celebrate his 21st birthday.\u00a0 There, they met up with 20-year-old Eric and his younger brother, Stanley, who lived in the neighborhood.\u00a0 Eric and Stanley are black; Todd and his friend are white.<\/p>\n

Something…here\u2019s where it gets murky….provoked a fight, not an unusual occurrence among impulsive, risk-taking young men who are fueled by alcohol.\u00a0 Todd reportedly hit Eric over the head with a board; Eric retaliated by striking Todd with a metal pipe.\u00a0 The group broke up.\u00a0 The next morning, Todd was found dead.<\/p>\n

The rest of the story is a matter of record.<\/p>\n

When he learned that Todd had died, Eric turned himself in to the police.\u00a0 He had no juvenile criminal history and no major adult arrests at the time.\u00a0 He had no intention to commit murder and believed he could plead self-defense.<\/p>\n

He was wrong.<\/p>\n

Eric was sentenced to 50 years in prison with no possibility of parole.<\/p>\n

Many attorneys feel that Eric was over-charged; one lawyer who has worked with him said that he was \u201crailroaded.\u201d\u00a0 Former St. Louis circuit attorney Dee Joyce-Hayes wrote to Eric\u2019s mother:\u00a0 \u201cI must tell you in all candor that I am somewhat surprised that Eric was charged with Capital Murder, especially since Stanley was charged with Murder 2nd and convicted of Manslaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 1999, Eric had exhausted his appeals process without relief.\u00a0 However, his circumstances continued to trouble some in the judiciary.\u00a0 Judge Myron Bright of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in an opinion:\u00a0 \u201cThis is an unusual case…The jury convicted (Eric) of capital murder.\u00a0 Yet…the evidence indicates that (Eric) acted with some justification for his conduct, and evidence which surfaced in a different trial casts grave doubt on whether (Eric) struck the blows that killed the victim.\u00a0 These facts and circumstances suggest that this case is an appropriate one for the Governor of Missouri to consider a grant of executive clemency.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the state of Missouri was not through with Eric.\u00a0 It would railroad him one more time before he had an opportunity to seek clemency.<\/p>\n

In August, 1985, two years into serving his sentence at a maximum security facility, Eric was wrongfully accused of the murder of a fellow inmate.\u00a0 He was convicted and sentenced to death.\u00a0 His execution was postponed because of pending appeals in his first case, and during that time an attorney working with the Innocence Project\u00a0 discovered that the state had kept important evidence from Eric in his initial trial.\u00a0 He was granted a new trial.\u00a0 That jury took less than one hour to acquit him of the inmate murder.\u00a0 By this time, he had spent 13 years on death row.<\/p>\n

Eric is now 49 years old.\u00a0 He has been in prison for 28 years.\u00a0 He has served 18 years more than the minimum sentence for second-degree murder and 18 years more than the maximum for manslaughter.\u00a0 Everyone else who was involved in the melee which resulted in Todd\u2019s death has been out of prison for many years.<\/p>\n

This case raises troubling questions about race, class, and the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Would Eric have received a lesser punishment if his victim had not been the son of a prominent white minister?\u00a0\u00a0 Would he have been sentenced to a shorter prison term if his family could have afforded a high-priced defense attorney?\u00a0 And what does a sentence of 50 years without the possibility of parole say about the capability of our prison system to rehabilitate inmates?<\/p>\n

If there is anything good that can come out of this troubling case, it is the demonstration that prisoners can be rehabilitated and that people can change.\u00a0 Today Eric is proof of that.\u00a0 While an inmate, he obtained his GED.\u00a0 He has taken every course available to him in prison and has worked at every job he could obtain.\u00a0 He has worked with other inmates as a tutor, spiritual advisor, and law clerk.\u00a0 His record of behavior while in prison is excellent.\u00a0 He has written a remorseful letter of apology to the parents of his victim.\u00a0 He has learned the values of education, cooperation and repentance.\u00a0 He has made amends to the extent that the prison environment will permit.<\/p>\n

Early in March, Eric\u2019s pro bono attorneys filed a petition for executive clemency with the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole.\u00a0 If members of this Board approve, the case will move to the desk of Gov. Jay Nixon, who can either reject, approve or simply ignore it.<\/p>\n

The Governor, a former prosecutor and state attorney general, will not want to appear to be \u201csoft on crime.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps he can be persuaded by the financial realities of keeping Eric in prison.\u00a0 During 2009, it cost the state $48.19 per day to house Eric in the correctional system.\u00a0 By contrast, it would have cost only $14.43 to place him on electronic monitoring, or $3.71 per day to place him on active parole….and nothing to grant him clemency.<\/p>\n

At this point during Eric\u2019s incarceration, it should be asked:\u00a0 how much is enough?\u00a0 Does a thoughtless crime, even a horrible crime, committed by a young man mean that he never gets a second chance?\u00a0 Do we really mean it when we say that the purpose of prison is to rehabilitate people?\u00a0 And if we acknowledge that people can change, can we also accept the possibility that they might be forgiven?<\/p>\n

If there is a place where justice and mercy intersect, it will be later this year on the desk of Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today it\u2019s difficult to reconstruct exactly what happened on that hot August night in 1982.\u00a0 Some details were murky even then.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":8087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[294,572,843,119],"tags":[949],"yoast_head":"\n