IMPORTANT ASPECTS:

MENTAL RETARDATION.

An IQ of 65 in childhood resulted in placement in Special Education; also a head injury. According to his attorney he functions at the level of a 12-year-old. (SB 702, currently pending in the Missouri legislature, would exclude the mentally retarded from the death penatly.)

DEADLOCKED JURY: Powell’s jury did not agree on a death sentence, yet the trial judge overrode them and sentence Powell to death. Federal and 15 state’s law require a death sentence to be unanimous, like the guilty verdict. (SB 702, currently pending in the Missouri legislature, would take out the wording allowing the override and bring Missouri in line with other states.)

Powell was convicted of the 1986 murder of 2 drifters during a fight when he was 18 and under the influence of alcohol and PCP and his impairments. He has expressed remorse.

WHAT YOU CAN DO on or before Tuesday, February 24^th: Any part helps:

1:

Ask Gov. Mel Carnahan to commute the sentence or grant a competency hearing,

Phone: 573-751-3222

Fax: 573-751-1495

State Capitol Box 720

Jefferson City, MO 65101.

In Kansas City:

889-3186;

St. Louis:

340-6900

2:

Candlelight vigil Tuesday, Feb. 24^th, outside the prison at Potosi 11:p.m – 12:a.m, near front gate of the Potosi Correctional Facility, Highway O, just off Highway 8, south off Hwy 21, or 1-55 to Hwy 67 south to Hwy 8 west.

CANDELLED IF COMMUTATION OR STAY